Dominican Compline

Dominican Compline is a recording of Night Prayer (Compline) chanted by the Dominican friars of St. Dominic Priory in St. Louis. You press play before bed and you pray with them.

The app includes a full Compline service in the Dominican rite, sung in English with traditional plainchant melodies. You can follow along with the text, or just listen. There is a brief explanation of Compline for those who are new to the Liturgy of the Hours.

I have used several Compline apps over the years and this one is different. The Dominican chant is unhurried, austere, and beautiful in the way only choral monastic prayer can be. The Salve Regina at the end, sung the way the friars actually sing it in the priory, is one of those things that quietly resets your day. It is closer to being in chapel with the brothers than any other Compline app I've found.

This is a wonderful fit for anyone who wants a calm, prayerful end to the day: daily Compline pray-ers, parents settling down after the kids are in bed, students at the end of long study sessions, and the elderly who may have prayed Compline in earlier years and want to come back to it. Lent and Advent suit it especially well.

The English Compline used in this recording is the Dominican rite, which differs slightly from the form in the Liturgy of the Hours used by diocesan priests. The recordings are the only feature. There is no week-by-week rotation through the Psalms.

Free, by the Dominicans of the Province of St. Albert the Great. Available on the App Store: Dominican Compline. Pray Compline with the friars tonight. You will sleep better.