a modern book of hours

The prayers of the Church, delivered to your phone

Seven moments a day, at the hours Christians have always prayed.

For a thousand years, the faithful carried small books of hours — psalms, prayers, and the saints' days, arranged around the rhythm of the day. This is that book, sent by message.Each morning brings Lauds and the saint of the day. Noon brings the Midday Prayer. Three o'clock, the Hour of Mercy. Night closes with Compline. Nothing to install, nothing to open — a message arrives, you pray, you return to your day.

fourteen days free · no card

Nothing is sent until you confirm on the next screen.

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Read the Daily Order

Prayers arrive by text message.
United States phone numbers only.

Reading the hour, by your device's clock…

the daily order

Seven messages, at hours kept for centuries

The Full Hours schedule. Times follow your own time zone. Touch an hour on the dial, or read the order below.

✠ —:— reading the hour…

A sundial of the day — hover or tap an hour.

6:00 am
Morning PrayerLauds

The day is offered before the world claims it. Psalms of praise and the morning offering.

6:30 am
Saint of the Day

The day's saint — their life, their witness, their patronage — with a prayer for their intercession.

9:00 am
Mid-Morning PrayerTerce

The hour the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost. A prayer before the work of the day.

12:00 pm
Midday Prayer

A pause at the height of the day. The shepherd psalms, prayed when labor is most pressing.

3:00 pm
The Hour of MercyNone

The hour Christ died. The Divine Mercy Chaplet and the prayers of the Passion, offered for the whole world.

6:00 pm
Evening PrayerVespers

The Magnificat at the close of day, with thanksgiving for graces received.

9:00 pm
Night PrayerCompline

The Church's last words before sleep. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.

The Morning Bell plan keeps Lauds and the Saint of the Day, then a short traditional prayer at 8:00. The Family Altar adds a children's morning offering at 7:30.

the story of the hours

A rhythm older than the clock

Long before phones, before even mechanical clocks, Christians marked the day by prayer. Here is how that rhythm reached yours.

I
c. 270 · the egyptian desert

The Desert Fathers

Hermits fleeing to the wilderness began praying the psalms at fixed points in the day and night — not by clock, for there was none, but by the sun and the stars.

II
530 · monte cassino

St. Benedict's Rule

"Seven times a day I have given praise to you," wrote the psalmist. Benedict made it law for his monks — the Hours fixed, in order, for the first time.

III
c. 1250 · europe

The Book of Hours

The Hours left the monastery. Laypeople commissioned their own illuminated psalters — the most widely owned book of the Middle Ages after the Bible itself.

IV
1971 · the second vatican council

Liturgia Horarum

The Council restored the Hours to ordinary parish and family life, simplified in structure and translated from Latin into the language of the people praying it.

V
today · in your pocket

Sent to a Phone

The same hours. The same psalms the desert fathers prayed, in words written for this service. Delivered now by an ordinary message, wherever the day finds you.

what arrives

Drawn from the Church's treasury, and written for this service

Every message carries the full prayer with a line of context — aligned to the liturgical season and the calendar of saints.

The Hours

The Church has prayed at fixed hours since the desert fathers. These prayers keep that rhythm, written for this service in the pattern the Hours have always followed.

O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me.

The Saint of the Day

A brief life of the day's saint and a prayer asking their intercession — the communion of saints, one morning at a time.

Holy Mary Magdalene, first witness of the Resurrection, pray for us.

The Our Father

The prayer Jesus taught, with brief reflection on its petitions — three for God's glory, four for our need.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

The Hail Mary

Scripture woven into prayer, with reflections on Our Lady's mysteries and her maternal intercession.

Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.

The Divine Mercy Chaplet

Among the prayers kept at three o'clock — the hour of Christ's death, the hour of great mercy.

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Marian Devotions

The Angelus, the Memorare, the Salve Regina, and the seasonal antiphons of Our Lady through the Church's year.

Never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection was left unaided.
how the prayers arrive

By text message, to any phone in the United States

Prayers arrive as ordinary text messages. No application, no account, no feed. You need only a phone that receives texts — no smartphone required. The service is offered to United States phone numbers today.

✠
Catholic Daily Prayer
Text Message · Today
Lauds

O God, come to my assistance.
O Lord, make haste to help me.

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6:00 AM
Saint of the Day: St. Barnabas

Patron of: encouragement, Cyprus, reconcilers

When the converted Paul reached Jerusalem and everyone was afraid of him, Barnabas alone stood up and vouched for him. His name means Son of Encouragement.

Prayer:
St. Barnabas, Son of Encouragement, pray that we vouch for the people others fear. Amen.

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6:30 AM
Divine Mercy Hour

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Reflection:
The hour Christ died. Pause one moment.

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3:00 PM

plate i — morning and afternoon As received by text message. Works on any phone, with or without a data plan.

✠
Catholic Daily Prayer
Text Message · Today
Vespers
The Magnificat

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.

Reflection:
The day is spent. Give it back to Him as it was.

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6:00 PM
Compline, Night Prayer
Into Your Hands

Into Your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. You have redeemed me, O Lord, O God of truth.
(cf. Ps 31)

Reflection:
The Church's last words before sleep, every night for fifteen centuries.

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9:00 PM

plate ii — evening The same day, closing. Seven messages arrive on the Full Hours plan.

a word of honesty

This service is newly begun. We have no testimonials to show you, and we will not invent any. What we have is a carefully kept library of the Church's own prayers, a calendar of her saints for every day of the year, and a system built to deliver them faithfully, at the right hours, every day.

The first fourteen days are free, and no card is asked of you. If the Hours take root in your life, we would be honored to keep sending them. If not, a single reply of STOP ends them — no calls, no fees, no questions.

We believe the prayers will speak for themselves.

three plans

How much of the day

The difference between the plans is not how much you get. It is how much of the day is marked: the morning alone, the whole day, or the whole household. Every plan begins with fourteen days free, and no card is asked of you to begin.

Morning Bell
$6.99

each month — the morning, kept

Three messages, all of them before the day takes hold of you.

  • Six o'clock — Lauds, the Church's morning prayer
  • Half past six — the saint of the day: their life, and a prayer asking their intercession
  • Eight o'clock — a traditional prayer of the Church, with a line on where it came from
  • Three messages, and the day is begun before it can get away from you
Begin the trial
Full Hours
$14.99

each month — the whole day, marked

The morning, and then the four hours most people lose: mid-morning, noon, three o'clock, and the end of the day.

  • Everything in Morning Bell, and then the rest of the day
  • Nine — Terce. Noon — Sext, the Midday Prayer
  • Three — the Hour of Mercy, kept at the hour of the Crucifixion
  • Six — Vespers. Nine — Compline, and the day is closed
  • The prayers follow the season: Advent, Lent and Easter each read differently
Begin the trial
Family Altar
$34.99

each month — up to four people, under $9 each

A household praying the same words on the same morning, in different rooms and on the way to different places.

You receive

  • All seven hours, exactly as in Full Hours
  • Half past seven — the Morning Offering, written plainly enough for a child to pray aloud. It comes to your phone, to be prayed with them before school. This prayer is in no other plan.

Each person you add receives

  • Six — Lauds. Half past six — the saint of the day
  • Eight — a traditional prayer of the Church
  • On their own phone, at the hours the household keeps
  • The three morning prayers, so the whole house begins the day on the same words

Up to three people alongside you. Each is texted once to confirm before anything is sent, and any of you can stop by replying STOP. One subscription, one bill.

Begin the trial

Every plan delivers by text message to a United States phone number. Prices are in US dollars.

questions, honestly answered

Before you begin

No. The Hours are the Church's own prayer, but they are offered to anyone drawn to a rhythm of daily prayer — Catholic, curious, or returning after a long absence.

Nothing is lost. Each message stands on its own — there is no streak to break and no backlog to clear. The next hour simply arrives at its time.

The traditional prayers — the Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, Salve Regina, Memorare, the Angelus — appear in their traditional English wording. Scripture and the Psalms are our own paraphrases, marked "cf.", or follow the Douay-Rheims. The Hours themselves are original compositions written for this service, following the traditional structure rather than reproducing the official Liturgy of the Hours. The saints' lives are original prose drawn from the historical record.

Yes. Your number is used only to deliver your prayers and is never sold or shared. Reply STOP at any time and it is removed from active sending.

Yes, at any time. Reply STOP to cancel outright, or write in to change plans. There is no contract and no cancellation fee.

You receive all seven hours, plus the children's Morning Offering at half past seven, which is written plainly enough to pray aloud with a child and is in no other plan. Each of the three people you add receives the three morning prayers on their own phone: Lauds at six, the saint of the day at half past, and a traditional prayer at eight. They do not receive the midday and evening hours; the morning is what the household shares.

Yes, and we ask them ourselves rather than taking your word for it. Each person you add is sent one text asking them to confirm, and nothing else is sent until they do. Any of them can end their own prayers by replying STOP without ending anyone else's, and without telling you first.

No — nothing replaces the Mass and the sacraments. This is meant to companion that life, not substitute for it: a small, steady practice for the hours in between.

begin the hours

Fourteen days free

No card required. Your first prayer arrives tomorrow morning.

Only used to warn you before your free trial ends. We will not send you anything else.

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