Etymology. The word None comes from the Latin word nona, ninth (hora nona), because this part of the Office was said at the ninth hour of the Roman day, that is, about three o'clock in our modern day.

Antiquity. This hour was set apart in Apostolic times for joint prayer, "Now Peter and John went up into the Temple at the ninth hour of prayer" (Acts iii. 1).

Structure. See note under this head at Terce.

Why does the Church desire prayer at the ninth hour?

1. In this she follows the example of her Founder, Christ, Who prayed at the ninth hour. "At the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying 'Eloi, Eloi, lamma sabacthani?' which is, being interpreted, 'My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?'" (St. Mark xv. 34).

2. That ninth hour was the long-wished-for and long-watched-for hour when reconciliation between earth and heaven was complete.

3. To beg from God light and grace, especially towards the end of life, for the day's decline in the afternoon is a figure of the waning of spiritual and corporal life. The hymn for None expresses this:—

"O God, unchangeable and true,
Of all the light and power,
Dispensing light in silence through
Each successive hour;
Lord, brighten our declining day,
That it may never wane
Till death, when all things round decay,
Brings back the morn again.
This grace on Thy redeemed confer,
Father, Co-equal Son,
And Holy Ghost, the Comforter,
Eternal Three in One—Amen."
(St. Ambrose's hymn, translated by Cardinal
Newman).