1.	Calendar
	Calendars at the front of Books of Hours told the date by citing the feast that was celebrated on that particular day. Some local feasts help determine the Calendar's “use,” the place where the manuscript was intended to be used and an important detail helpful in determining where the Book of Hours was actually made.

2.	Gospel Lessons
	Following the Calendar, the first text proper in a Book of Hours is a series of Gospel Lessons by the four evangelists. These excerpts from the New Testament touch on the major events from the life of the Savior, except for the Story of the Passion.

3.	hours of the Virgin
	The heart of every Book of Hours is the series of prayers called the Hours of the Virgin (hence the name Book of Hours or, in Latin, Horae). There are eight separate Hours, ideally prayed throughout the course of the day: Matins, Lauds (at night or upon rising), Prime (the 1st hour, around 6 a.m.), Terce (the 3rd hour, around 9 a.m.), Sext (the 6th hour, around noon), None (the 9th hour, at 3 p.m.), Vespers (evensong, in early evening), and Compline (upon retiring).

4.	hours of the Cross & Hours of the Holy Spirit
	The Hours of the Cross and the Hours of the Holy Spirit are to be found in most Books of Hours, often following the Hours of the Virgin or sometimes inserted after Lauds (“mixed” Hours).

5.	“Obsecro te” and “O intemerata”
	Two special prayers to the Virgin that appear in nearly all Books of Hours are known by their incipits (opening words): “Obsecro te” (I beseech you) and “O intemerata” (O immaculate Virgin). Written in the first person singular, the prayers address the Virgin directly in especially plaintive tones.

6.	Penitential Psalms
	Medieval tradition ascribed the authorship of the Seven Penitential Psalms (6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129, and 142) to King David, who composed them as penance for his grievous sins. The Penitential Psalms usually follow the Hours of the Cross and the Hours of the Holy Spirit. They are followed immediately by the Litany, a hypnotic enumeration of saints whom one asked to pray for us.

7.	Office of the Dead
	The Office of the Dead was in the back of every Book of Hours, usually after the Penitential Psalms and Litany. The function of this service is to be found in its old name, Office for the Dead. The medieval soul made a detour to purgatory for an initial stay. Praying the Office was considered the most efficacious means of reducing this fiery price of obtaining paradise. These aids were essential, because only the living could help the dead.

8.	Suffrages
	The typical Book of Hours contained a dozen or so Suffrages (or Memorials, from the Latin memoriae). They usually appear near the end of the volume. Each Suffrage is composed of a string of praises, a prayer recounting an episode from the saint's life, or some important aspect of the saint's holiness, and a petition for aid from God through the saint's intercession.

9.	Accessory Texts
	One of the most frequently encountered accessory prayers is the Joys of the Virgin, celebrating the happy moments in Mary's life from the Annunciation to her Assumption into Heaven. There is also a group of prayers whose number of components is fixed at the same mystical digit: Seven Requests to Our Lord, Seven Prayers of St. Gregory, Seven Verses of St. Bernard, and the Seven Last Words of Our Lord. Extra Hours, short and structured like those of the Cross and of the Holy Spirit, also appear: favorites include the Hours of St. Catherine, the Hours of John the Baptist, and the Weekday Hours.