It seems there was no universal practice of the communal recitation of these hours until the Middle Ages. On Sundays, Terce was sung in organum before the principal Mass, and included the hymn Nunc sancte nobis spiritus, which recalls the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles.D'Accone, Frank A., The Civic Muse: Music and Musicians in Siena during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, University of Chicago Press, 2007 In the monastery of Lerins, work commenced after Terce and continued until Nones.Fassler, Margot E. and Baltzer, Rebecca A., The Divine Office in the Latin Middle Ages, Oxford University Press, 2000 The custom of Little Hours grew up in the monastic and larger Church in the course of the centuries and still is followed in stricter monasteries and hermitages. These hours also continue to be prayed by many religious communities.
