in the _Ordo_ is held by some theologians to be a venial sin, as they
hold that the rubric is preceptive; others hold that it is not any sin,
as they say that the rubric is directive.




ARTICLE III.--TIME OF RECITATION.

The time fixed for the recitation of the entire office of the day is
from midnight to the midnight following, and anyone bound to recite the
Divine Office does not sin gravely if he has recited carefully the
entire office of the day between these limits of time; because, within
these limits, the substance of the obligation binding to time is
fulfilled. Of course, it is lawful in virtue of a privilege granted by
the Church to recite on the previous evening Matins and Lauds for the
following day. In the recitation the times fixed by the Church for each
hour should be observed. But the non-recital at those fixed times is
never a mortal sin and is rarely a venial sin, unless their postponement
or anticipation is without cause.

When may a priest begin the recitation of Matins and Lauds for the
following day? There were two different replies given to this question.
One opinion stated that it was lawful to begin Matins and Lauds after 2
o'clock, p.m., and this could be lawfully done every day in the year,
and in every land. Another opinion--and St. Alphonsus calls it
_sententia verior_--denies that such a course is lawful. The old French
Breviaries gave a _horarium_ arranging the hour of anticipation of
Matins and Lauds, so that no one should, through temerity or ignorance,
begin the anticipation before the sun had passed half way in its course