Compline

Compline is the last of the daily offices chanted by the monastic community before retiring for the evening. The Master's Consort sings this venerable service at the Lutheran Church of the Master every Sunday evening at 8:30 p.m. under the direction of Hollis Erdmann.

Our Compline proceeding is a short, meditative service sung a capella by four to seven professional male singers. The music consists primarily of Gregorian and Sarum chant melodies, as well as anthems from Tudor and Elizabethan times all the way to the present. The congregation sits quietly in the candlelit and incensed Sanctuary, participating through silent prayer and meditation. Whatever your religious affiliation, all are welcome to attend Compline as a restful and quiet way of welcoming another new week. Dress is come-as-you-are casual.

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A History of Compline

In the early Church, monastic desert communities continued the Jewish practice of prayer at principal hours of the day. For these early monks, the hours of prayer became commemorative of the work of Christ. Daybreak equaled the resurrection, the third hour represented the descent of the Holy Spirit or condemnation of Christ, the sixth hour portrayed the crucifixion, the ninth hour paralleled the death of Christ, and the evening service symbolized the light of Christ in the darkness of the world.

Each of these services later had a Latin name often related to the time of day. Matins ("morning") is the first service of the day, was prayed between midnight and 3:00 a.m.; Laudes, the next service, comes between 3:00 a.m. and daybreak; Prime, the first hour of daylight at 6 a.m.; Terce at the third hour of daylight at 9 a.m.; Sext at the sixth hour or noon; and None at the ninth hour or 3:00 p.m. The last of the daily services or "offices" came to be known as Compline, taken from the Latin word "completorium" meaning "completion of the day." Benedict of Nursia (c. 480-550 A.D.), often called the "Father of Western monasticism," was probably the first to give a permanent place in the daily offices to Compline, as the last office in the evening before retiring to rest. Late in the Middle Ages, Vespers (the preceding office also known as Evening Prayer or Evensong) moved to earlier in the day, and Compline was often said in the Church.