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The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin is one of the liturgical prayers of the Church, and she imposes it on many of her children. Although the Little Office of Our Lady is considerably shorter than the ever-varying Office which the Clergy and Religious in solemn vows have to say, yet, coming as it does from the same authority, it is as much a liturgical prayer as the Divine Office, and has the same claims to be considered a part of the official worship which the mystical Spouse of Christ, the Church, daily offers to her Divine Head.

Prayer is the great duty of man here below: Oportet semper or are et non deficere — “We ought always to pray and not to faint” (Luke xviii. i).

We appear before God under three different aspects: as individuals, as members of congregations or societies, and as members of a Divine Society. Hence there are three kinds of prayer: (1) private prayer, (2) prayer in common, and (3) the prayer of the Church, or liturgical prayer.

Of the first kind, private prayer, Our Lord spoke when He said: “But thou