Third Hour

The Third Hour, known in Latin as tertia and in English as terce, is one of the canonical hours of the Divine Office, traditionally recited at approximately 9:00 AM, or the third hour after sunrise. In the medieval Christian framework that structures Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, this hour carries both liturgical and cosmological significance, appearing as a precise temporal coordinate that aligns the poem's narrative with the movements of the sun and the spheres.

Liturgical and Temporal Definition

The Third Hour belongs to the set of daytime canonical hours—Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline—that punctuate the monastic day with prayer. In the Divine Comedy, Dante uses the Third Hour not merely as a chronological detail but as a marker that situates the pilgrim's journey within the ordered time of the created universe. The hour is defined by the sun's position: when the sun has completed approximately one-eighth of its daily arc, or when it stands at about 45 degrees above the horizon, depending on the season. This measurement ties the liturgical moment to the physical motion of the heavens, reflecting the medieval conviction that earthly worship participates in the celestial harmony.

Occurrence in the Narrative

Dante invokes the Third Hour at a critical juncture in the Purgatorio, when the pilgrim and his guide Virgil have just emerged from the smoke of the Third Terrace, where the sin of Wrath is purged. As they ascend toward the Fourth Terrace, the poet notes the passage of time: "As much as 'twixt the close of the third hour / And dawn of day appeareth of that sphere / Which aye in fashion of a child is playing, / So much it now appeared, towards the night, / Was of his course remaining to the sun" (Purgatorio XV.1-5). The comparison measures the remaining daylight against the span from dawn to the end of terce, establishing that the sun is now well past its zenith and descending toward evening. This temporal precision anchors the narrative in a specific moment of the day, reinforcing the realism of the journey while also symbolizing the pilgrim's progress from the darkness of error toward the light of divine truth.

Cosmic and Symbolic Significance

In the Paradiso, the Third Hour reappears as part of the cosmic order that governs the ascent through the heavens. Beatrice explains to Dante that the universe is arranged according to a divine hierarchy, where each creature moves toward its proper end by an innate inclination: "This bears away the fire towards the moon; / This is in mortal hearts the motive power; / This binds together and unites the earth" (Paradiso I.115-117). The regularity of the hours—including the Third Hour—reflects this ordered motion, as the sun's daily course measures time for humanity and participates in the larger providential plan. The hour thus becomes a figure for the harmony between the temporal and the eternal, the liturgical and the cosmic.

Thematic Role in the Pilgrim's Journey

The Third Hour also functions as a marker of the pilgrim's spiritual state. In the Purgatorio, the mention of the hour coincides with Dante's growing ease in climbing the mountain, as Virgil had promised: "When it shall seem so pleasant to thee, / That going up shall be to thee as easy / As going down the current in a boat, / Then at this pathway's ending thou wilt be" (Purgatorio IV.88-91). The temporal reference underscores that the pilgrim is moving through time as well as space, and that his purification is a process that unfolds within the created order. The Third Hour, as a fixed point in the daily cycle, reminds the reader that salvation is not an escape from time but a transformation of it—a reordering of the soul's desires to align with the eternal love that moves the sun and the other stars.