Individuals would wake up at two a.m. to begin their prayers and would continue throughout the day with minimal breaks. It was not until right before they went to sleep that they would conclude, only to wake up in the middle of the night to start praying once more. It would take someone a week of praying like this to recite all the psalms, after which they would begin the cycle anew for the next week. This made the psalter an extremely important text since they kept the psalms in a convenient and easily transportable place. 

Many Biblical stories and figures are depicted in the historiated initials of the Psalter, such as the image of St. Francis on f. 17. These historiated initials served as complementary illustrations to the text and even occasionally contained satires of the psalms. Since psalms were a crucial part of any Mass, the laity would pick up on the Latin words spoken. If they were wealthy enough to own a personal psalter, they would read them in anticipation of the day’s service, or reflect upon the ones they heard at Mass. Some psalters were also divided into seven sections, which would have made it easy for parishioners to incorporate worship into their daily lives, both inside and outside of official services. In short, the psalters and the psalms contained within them that were sung as part of various Chrisitan rituals provided a sense of belonging and religious cohesion to medieval Christians.