vesperae

Vesperae is the Latin term for the evening service of Western Christian liturgy, commonly rendered in English as Vespers. It designates the canonical hour of sunset prayer and the set of liturgical texts associated with that hour in the Liturgy of the Hours. The word vespera means evening, and vesperae is the plural form used in liturgical books and scholarly references.

In the Roman Rite, Vespers typically includes a pattern of psalms with antiphons, a hymn, the canticle of Mary (the Magnificat) with its own antiphon, and intercessions and a concluding prayer. The service is often followed by the Marian antiphon Salve Regina in many places, though local customs vary. The exact form and optional elements can differ between communities, such as monastic, cathedral, or parish settings, and between languages.

Historically, vesperae developed as a fixed hour of prayer in the early Church and became a prominent feature of medieval monastic and cathedral liturgies. After the reforms associated with the Second Vatican Council, the Liturgy of the Hours was revised to provide a standardized form for Evening Prayer, though the essential structure and purpose of Vespers as an evening thanksgiving and petition remain intact in modern practice.

In music, Vesperae has been used as a title for choral settings of the Vespers prayers. Notable examples include Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore, K. 339, a concert setting of the traditional Vespers texts. The term also appears in other composers’ settings and in discussions of liturgical tradition.