Ordinary people could not follow such a routine of prayer. and the history of the daily office in the west is a gradual disapo pearance of the pcople's office, Monasticism increasingly set the style for church architecture, church music, and the daily hours what was happening as the popular religion of the people's office slipped out of sight was that daily prayer had become profession alized with the monks taking it over. Eventually local clergy followed monastic practices but left little prayer of a public nature for ordinary folk. The whole approach had become that of an athletic discipline, well suited to the needs of those intent on meditation and contemplation, but hardly suited for those raising a family. The disappearance of the people's office in the West was a tragedy for all. It left available only one model for daily public prayer: that of the monks.