Hours of Our Lady, 1500

Hours of Our Lady / Book of hours Created by: LOC's Public Domain Archive Dated: 1500

This Book of Hours was printed in Paris in 1500/1501, and the only known copy is in the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.

Before 15th century, church towers were not decorated with clocks, the time was marked by the sound of canonical hours, clanged by the clergyman at the bell, that Christianity inherited from the Jewish practice of reciting prayers at fixed times of the day. At a three-hour cadence, the bells rang and announced the time to pray, thus marking the religious time and the rhythm of the day.

It's a prayer of St. Leo Pope and Prayer of the Wall, the Prayer of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Juste Judex), Antiphon and Prayer of St. Kitts and "Fake Indulgences" of the Pope John XXII and Innocent III, all prohibited by the 16th century Inquisition.