The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, one of the premier sacred music choirs in the country, sings Compline by candlelight each Sunday evening in historic St. Paul’s Chapel, surrounded by people gathering informally from around the neighborhood and across the city. The choir sings a mixture of Gregorian chant, improvised chant based on even earlier patterns, and newly-composed music as well. The service lasts 25 minutes and is an informal, come-as-you-are gathering.
Compline is wonderfully accessible, yet is one of the most ancient services of the Christian church, traceable back to the fourth century. Early Christians, having inherited the daily morning and evening prayer practices of Jewish faith, gradually added services at other hours of the day. Compline (from the Latin verb complere, meaning “to complete”) marked the last prayers before sleep, and monastic communities still use this simple and beautiful service to enter the “Great Silence,” refraining from further speech until the morning.
Compline is a way of praying that has become popular well beyond the monastery. It is a rich ritual “hinge” to the day or week, enfolding all that has transpired in prayer. In the words of the opening invocation:
"Lord, it is night. The night is for stillness. Let us be still in the presence of God. It is night after a long day;
“What has been done has been done,
What has not been done has not been done;
Let it be.”
