adiutorium

Adiutorium is a Latin noun meaning help or assistance. In Christian liturgical usage, it designates a short opening invocation at the start of the Divine Office in the Roman Rite. The traditional form is the brief verse “Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini,” followed by the response “Qui fecit caelum et terram,” a formula drawn from the Latin Vulgate that requests God’s aid before the hours of psalmody.

In many contemporary Roman Rite practices, the principal opening of the Liturgy of the Hours is instead the invocations “Deus, in adiutorium meum intende” and “Domine, ad adiuvandum me festina.” The exact text and placement of the adjutory phrase can vary by rite, language, and liturgical book, but the function remains the same: to invoke divine assistance before prayer.

Historically, the adjutory invocation developed in medieval Latin breviaries and was adopted by monastic communities and clergy who used the Latin Divine Office. It remains in use among communities that preserve the traditional Latin Office, such as certain Benedictine and Cistercian houses, as well as in translations that reflect older wording. In vernacular renditions, the sense is preserved as a call for help from God prior to the recitation of prayers and psalms.

See also: Liturgy of the Hours, Divine Office, Roman Rite, Psalm 120 (Vulgate).