Lauds is proper to sunrise, but is mostly grouped with matins.
On high festivals the altar is censed at vespers and lauds.
It was with the aid of these youthful enthusiasts that Savonarola arranged the religious carnival of 1496, when the citizens gave their costliest possessions in alms to the poor, and tonsured monks, crowned with flowers, sang lauds and performed wild dances for the glory of God.
Beyond this we often find the calefactorium or day-room - an apartment warmed by flues beneath the pavement, where the brethren, half frozen during the night offices, betook themselves after the conclusion of lauds, to gain a little warmth, grease their sandals and get themselves ready for the work of the day.
The omissions are said at Lauds, Prime and Compline.
