Time for Prayer and Time for Work. Rule and Practice among Catholic Lay Sisters in the Dutch Republic

Abstract

"One shall rise at five in the morning and go to communal prayers at six. After prayer and meditation one shall read the first three canonical hours: matins, lauds and prime — but those who do not have the leisure can also do this over their work." This is how the Rule of a community of seventeenth century Dutch Catholic lay-sisters started. Theirs was a very flexible rule, designed to accommodate both wealthy sisters, who could spend much of their time in their devotions, and poorer ones, who had to work for their living. Their Rule provides a good illustration of attitudes towards the use of time among pious Christians in the seventeenth centuries ....