Compline (ˈkɒmplɪn ), also known as Complin, Night Prayer, or the Prayers at the End of the Day, is the final prayer liturgy (or office) of the day in the Christian tradition of canonical hours, which are prayed at fixed prayer times.
The English word is derived from the Latin completorium, as compline is the completion of the waking day. The word was first used in this sense about the beginning of the 6th century by St. Benedict in his Rule (Regula Benedicti; hereafter, RB), in Chapters 16, 17, 18, and 42, and he even uses the verb compleo to signify compline: "Omnes ergo in unum positi compleant" ("All having assembled in one place, let them say compline"); "et exeuntes a completorio" ("and, after going out from compline")... (RB, Chap. 42).
Compline liturgies are a part of Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, and certain other Christian liturgical traditions.
In Western Christianity, Compline tends to be a contemplative office that emphasizes spiritual peace. In most monasteries it is the custom to begin the "Great Silence" after compline, during which the whole community, including guests, observes silence throughout the night until after the Terce the next day. Compline comprises the final office in the Liturgy of the Hours.
This section incorporates information from the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1917. References to psalms follow the numbering system of the Septuagint, as said in the Latin of the Vulgate.
From the time of the early Church, the practice of seven fixed prayer times have been taught; in Apostolic Tradition, Hippolytus instructed Christians to pray seven times a day "on rising, at the lighting of the evening lamp, at bedtime, at midnight" and "the third, sixth and ninth hours of the day, being hours associated with Christ's Passion."
The origin of compline has given rise to considerable discussion among liturgists. In the past, general opinion ascribed the origin of this liturgical hour to St. Benedict, in the beginning of the 6th century. But Jules Pargoire and A.