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Medieval nuns, like monks, followed the strict Liturgy or sequence of services. These were based on The Bible's assertion that a man ought to pray seven times a day, plus once in the night. This meant getting up for the night service and then returning to bed, getting up again for the first service of the day.

It is important to realise that time was seen very differently before mechanical clocks were invented; there was no accurate way of telling time, so all of the daily services were held at approximately the following times (which could vary in different nunneries and monasteries and at different times of year):

2 am: Matins, often combined with Lauds

6 am: Prime

9 am: Terce

12 noon: Sext

3 pm: Nones

6 pm: Vespers

8 pm: Compline

Nuns and monks went to bed in complete silence straight after Compline was finished. In between these Holy Offices were the daily Chapter meeting (around 7 am), the two daily Masses, meals, time spent reading or studying and time spent working at different tasks.

In theory the day was split equally between study, work and prayer, but in fact prayer took up the largest portion of a nun's time.

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14y ago

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