Lauds are a canonical hour of the Divine office. In the Roman Rite Liturgy of the Hours it is one of the major hours, usually held after Matins, in the early morning hours.

The name, from Latin laus, praise, is derived from the three last psalms of the psalter (148, 149, 150), the Laudate psalms, which were in former versions of the Lauds of the Roman Rite prayed every day, and in all of which the word laudate is repeated frequently. At first, the word Lauds designated only the end, that is to say, these three psalms. Over time, Lauds came to be applied to the whole office.

Lauds as the morning prayer of the church are one of the most ancient offices and can be traced back to Apostolic times. The earliest evidence of Lauds appears in the second and third centuries in the Canons of Hippolytus and in writings by St. Cyprian, and the Apostolic Fathers. Descriptions during the fourth and fifth centuries appear in writings by Ss. John Cassian, Melania the Younger, Hilary of Poitiers, Eusebius, John Chrysostom, and in the Peregrinatio Ætheriae. During the 6th century St. Benedict of Nursia gave a detailed description of them in his rule. Gregory of Tours also made several allusions to this office, which he calls Matutini hymni.

According to John T. Hedrick, in Introduction to the Roman Breviary, Lauds were not originally a distinct canonical hour but Matins and Lauds formed a single office, the night office terminating only at dawn. The monks prayed Matins during the night and said Lauds in the early dawn. In the 5th and 6th century the Lauds were called Matutinum. By the Middle Ages, the midnight office was referred to as Nocturns, and the morning office as Matins. The lengthy night office later became the liturgical hour of Matins and was divided into two or three nocturns; the morning office became Lauds.

After Pope Pius X’s reform, Lauds was reduced to four psalms or portions of psalms and an Old Testament canticle, putting an end to the custom of adding the last three psalms of the psalter (148–150) at the end of Lauds every day.

This is the office of daybreak and hence its symbolism is also of Christ's resurrection, "the true light enlightening all people and 'the sun of justice', 'rising from on high'". According to Fernand Cabrol, "Lauds remains the true morning prayer, which hails in the rising sun, the image of Christ triumphant — consecrates to Him the opening day". The office of Lauds reminds the Christian that the first act of the day should be praise, and that one's thoughts should be of God before facing the cares of the day. According to the General Instruction on the Liturgy of the Hours, Lauds as morning prayer and Vespers as evening prayer "are the two hinges on which the daily Office turns"

In the 1970 edition of the Roman Breviary which was revised according to the mandate of the Second Vatican Council, Lauds (Latin Laudes matutinae, pl.) has the following structure:

All psalms and canticles are concluded with the doxology. The psalms and readings are distributed in a four-week cycle, which forms the heart of the prayer.