Gregory IX, in 1239, an ordinance enjoining that elaborate tres orationes recited by the monks;

a bell should be rung for the salutation and just as in the case of the Rosary, one hundred Angelus
praises of Our Lady. Again, there is a grant of and fifty Hail Marys were substituted for the
Bishop Henry of Brixen to the church of Freins one hundred and fifty psalms of the Psalter. Present Usage
in the Tyrol, also of 1239, which concedes an Moreover, in the Franciscan decree of St.
indulgence for saying three Hail Marys' at the Bonaventure's time, referred to above, this is The Angelus is a short practice of devotion
evening tolling". This, indeed, has been precisely what we find, viz., that the laity in in honor of the Incarnation repeated three times
suspected of interpolation, but the same general were to be induced to say Hail Marys each day, morning, noon, and evening, at the
objection cannot apply to a decree of Franciscan when the bell rang at Complin, during, or more sound of the bell. It consists essentially in the
General Chapter in the time of St Bonaventure probably after, the office of the friars. A special triple repetition of the Hail Mary, to which in
(1263 or 1269), directing preachers to encourage appropriateness for these greetings of Our later times have been added three introductory
the people to say Hail Marys when the Complin Lady was found in the belief that at this very versicles and a concluding versicle and prayer.
bell rang. Moreover, these indications are hour she was saluted by the angel. Again, it is The prayer is that which belongs to the antiphon
strongly confirmed by certain inscriptions still to noteworthy that some monastic customs in of Our Lady, "Alma Redemptoris," and its
be read on some few bells of the thirteenth speaking of the tres orationes expressly recitation is not of strict obligation in order to
century. Further back than this direct prescribe the observance of the rubric about gain the indulgence. From the first word of the
testimonials do not go; but on the other hand we standing or kneeling according to the season, three versicles, i.e. Angelus Domini nuntiavit
read in the "Regularis Concordia", a monastic which rubric is insisted upon in the recitation of Mariæ (The angel of the Lord declared unto
rule composed by St. Aethelwold of Winchester, the Angelus to this day. From this we may Mary), the devotion derives its name. The
c. 975, that certain prayers called the tres conclude that the Angelus in its origin was an indulgence of 100 days for each recitation, with
orationes, preceded by psalms, were to be said imitation of the monks' night prayers and that it a plenary once a month was granted by
after Complin as well as before Matins and again had probably nothing directly to do with the Benedict XIII, 14 September, 1724, but the
at Prime, and although there is no express curfew bell, rung as a signal for the extinction conditions prescribed have been somewhat
mention of a bell being rung after Complin, of fires and lights. The curfew, however, first modified by Leo XIII, 3 April, 1884. Originally
there is express mention of the bell being rung meets us in Normandy in 1061 and is then it was necessary that the Angelus should be said
for the tres orationes at other hours. This spoken of as a bell, which summoned the kneeling (except on Sundays and on Saturday
practice, it seems, is confirmed by German people to say their prayers, after which evenings, when the rubrics prescribe a standing
examples (Mart ne, De Antiq. Eccles. Ritibus, summons they should not again go abroad. If posture), and also that it should be said at the
IV, 39), and as time went on it became more and anything, therefore, it seems more probable that sound of the bell; but more recent legislation
more definitely associated with three separate the curfew was grafted upon this primitive allows these conditions to be dispensed with for
peals of the bell, more especially at Bec, at St. prayer-bell rather than vice versa. If the curfew any sufficient reason, provided the prayer be
Denis, and in the customs of the Canon Regular and the Angelus coincided at a later period, as said approximately at the proper hours, i.e. in
of St. Augustine (e.g. at Barnwell Priory and apparently they did in some cases, this was the early morning, or about the hour of noon, or
elsewhere). probably accidental. towards evening. In this case, however, the
We have not in these earlier examples any whole Angelus as commonly printed has to be
mention of the Hail Mary (q.v.), which in recited, but those who do not know the prayers
England first became familiar as an antiphon in by heart or who are unable to read them, may
the Little Office of Our Lady about the say five Hail Marys in their place. During
beginning of the eleventh century (The Month. Pope John Paul II Society of Evangelists
paschal time the antiphon of Our Lady, "Regina
P.O. Box 5584, Bakersfield, California 93388
November, 1001), but it would be the most e-mail: [email protected] Phone: 661 393-3239 cæli lætare," with versicle and prayer, is to be
natural thing in the world that once the Hail www.pjpiisoe.org substituted for the Angelus. The Angelus
Mary had become an everyday prayer, this Donation Welcome and Appreciated indulgence is one of those, which are not
should for the laity take the place of the more Pamphlet 158 suspended during the year of Jubilee.
 History some difficulties it seems probable enough that death upon the cross is suggested for the
The history of the Angelus is by no means this morning bell was also an imitation of the noontide ringing. These instructions, which may
easy to trace with confidence, and it is well to monastic triple peal for the tres orationes or already be found translated in an English
distinguish in this matter between what is certain morning prayers; for this, as noted above, was manuscript written in 1576 (MSS. Hurlelan
and what is in some measure conjectural. In the rung at the morning office of Prime as well as 2327), suggest that the Resurrection should be
first place it is certain that the Angelus at at Complin. The morning Ave Maria soon honored in the morning, the Passion at noon,
midday and in the morning were of later became a familiar custom in all the countries of and the Incarnation in the evening, since the
introduction than the evening Angelus. Secondly Europe, not excepting England, and was almost times correspond to the hours at which these
it is certain that the midday Angelus, which is as generally observed as that of the evening. great Mysteries actually occurred. In some
the most recent of the three, was not a mere But while in England the evening Ave Maria is prayer books of this epoch different devotions
development or imitation of the morning and enjoined by Bishop John Stratford of are suggested for each of the three ringings, e.g.
evening devotion. Thirdly, there can be no doubt Winchester as early as 1324, no formal the Regina Cœli for the morning (see Esser,
that the practice of saying three Hail Mary's in direction as to the morning ringing is found 784), Passion prayers for noon and our present
the evening somewhere about sunset had before the instruction of Archbishop Arundel in versicles for sundown. To some such practice
become general throughout Europe in the first 1399. we no doubt owe the substitution of Regina
half of the fourteenth century and that it was Cœli for the Angelus during paschal time. This
recommended and indulgenced by Pope John The Midday Angelus substitution was recommended by Angelo
XXII in 1318 and 1327. These facts are admitted This suggests a much more complicated Rocca and Quarti at the beginning of the
by all writers on the subject, but when we try to problem which cannot be adequately discussed seventeenth century. Our present three versicles
push our investigations further we are here. The one clear fact which seems to result seem first to have made their appearance in an
confronted with certain difficulties. It seems alike from the statutes of several German Italian catechism printed at Venice in 1560
needless to discuss all the problems involved. Synods in the fourteenth and fifteenth (Esser, 789); but the fuller form now universally
We may be content to state simply the nearly centuries, as also from books of devotion of a adopted cannot be traced back earlier than 1612.
identical conclusions at which T. Esser, O.P., somewhat later date, is that the midday ringing, Be it noted that somewhat earlier than this a
and the present writer have arrived, in two series while often spoken of as a peace bell and practice grew up in Italy of saying a "De
of articles published about the same time quite formally commended by Louis XI of France in profundis" for the holy souls immediately after
independently of each other. 1475 for that special object, was closely the evening Angelus. Another custom, also of
associated with the veneration of the Passion of Italian origin, is that of adding three Glorias to
The Morning Angelus Christ. At first it appears that this midday bell, the Angelus in thanksgiving to the Blessed
e.g. at Prague in 1386, and at Mainz in 1423, Trinity for the privileges bestowed upon our
This last suggestion about the tres orationes
was only rung on Fridays, but the custom by Lady.
also offers some explanation of the fact that
shortly after the recital of the three Hail Marys at degrees extended to the other days of the week.
evening had become familiar, a custom In the English Horæ and the German Hortulus The Evening Angelus
established itself of ringing a bell in the morning Animæ of the beginning of the sixteenth Although according to Father Esser's view we
and of saying the Ave thrice. The earliest century rather lengthy prayers commemorating have no certain example of three Hail Marys
mention seems to be in the chronicle of tile city the Passion are provided to be said at the being recited at the sound of the bell in the
of Parma, 1318, though it was the town-bell, midday tolling of the bell in addition to the evening earlier than a decree of the Provincial
which was rung in this case. Still the bishop ordinary three Aves. Later on (c. 1575), in Synod of Gran in the year 1307, still there are a
exhorted all who heard it to say three Our sundry books of devotion (e.g. Coster's good many facts which suggest that some such
Fathers and three Hail Marys for the Thesaurus), while our modern Angelus practice was current in the thirteenth century.
preservation of peace, whence it was called "the versicles are printed, much as we say them Thus there is a vague and not very well
peace bell". The same designation was also now, though minus the final prayer, an confirmed tradition which ascribes to Pope
applied elsewhere to the evening bell. In spite of alternative form commemorating our Lord's