Litanies

LITANIES. —

I. GENERALITIES

The word (from λιτανεία, “prayer”) has the general sense of prayer, and even more specifically that of supplication or intercessory prayer. Stylistically, it appears as a concise formula by which the Christian assembly joins in the prayer of the sacred minister, participating intimately in its holy intentions.

This practice soon spread in the East and the West, immediately becoming the prayer of the faithful. Some have wished to see a trace of it in the First Letter of St. Paul to Timothy (2:1–3) and in the Letter of St. Clement of Rome to the Corinthians (cf. G. Morin, in Analecta Maredostana, 2 [1914], pp. 54–57); Justin also speaks of it (I Ap., chaps. 65–67). Many others testify from as early as the fourth century to its existence everywhere and to its precise place in the Mass, immediately before the Offertory. The prayer concluded with the kiss of peace exchanged among all those present. In the formularies preserved in liturgical monuments, one observes that, amid the variety of formulas, a probably original, common, simple, and precise pattern persists, alongside a common stylistic form consisting of an exhortation or invitatory with stereotyped phrases (“let us pray to God for... so that...”), to which the assembly responded with the Greek formula Kyrie eleison or the Latin Domine miserere. The pattern then regularly consisted of two groups: a) prayer for the Church and for the persons of the ecclesiastical hierarchy (bishop, presbyters, deacons), the virgins, and the widows; b) prayers for the emperor or king and for the peace of the world; for persons afflicted or in danger: the sick, travelers, sailors, exiles, prisoners, those condemned «ad metalla», etc. The uniformity of style and pattern, moreover, had already been affirmed by St. Prosper of Aquitaine around 440 (PL 51, 245). That they truly were daily prayers is proved by the Orationes solemnes of Good Friday, even though they have no connection with that day. Pope Gelasius (492–96) gave the old Oratio fidelium a new formula (Deprecatio Gelasiana) and a new place, probably motivated by the need for greater conformity with the constitution of the Church at the end of the fifth century. The formula was transmitted by Alcuin; the new place was at the beginning of the Mass,

before the readings. St. Gregory the Great introduced further innovations: he retained the Deprecatio Gelasiana only for solemn days, perhaps because it was lengthy, having it omitted from daily Masses in its deprecatory section (the first), while retaining its supplicatory section (Kyrie eleison), and himself introducing—or, better perhaps, establishing—the practice of alternating it with the Christe eleison. But the powerful development, in these centuries (sixth–ninth), of the offertory rites, the remembrance of the offerers that was introduced into them, and the mention in the Canon of the names of persons belonging to the ecclesiastical and political hierarchy, as well as of those especially to be remembered in the celebration of individual Masses, caused the disappearance from the Roman rite of the Oratio fidelium (the documents from the sixth to the ninth century no longer mention it). Only its memory remained in the Kyrie sung before the Gloria in excelsis, in the form introduced by Gelasius, and in the Oremus, recited without a following prayer before the Offertory, according to the primitive form. At least, this was the view of Duchesne (Origines du culte chrétien, 5th ed., Paris 1925, p. 175), who was not followed by Bishop and Wilmart (Le génie du rit romain, ibid. 1920, pp. 88–90), who consider this Oremus a vestige of a prayer after the Gospel still preserved in the Ambrosian rite. The latter has preserved for the Lenten Sundays two alternating formulas of the Oratio fidelium immediately after the entrance (Introit), displaying archaic features, as the analysis of the melody demonstrates, as does the presence of a prayer for those condemned «ad metalla», a penalty abolished in 230. Its place today conflicts with the testimonies of the fourth century, which locate it before the Offertory, and must be the result of the reform carried out in Rome by Gelasius I.

In both the Roman and the Ambrosian rite, the Oratio fidelium received a version, through Gallican influences, that may be called psalmic, because the ancient brief and concise petitions, though of ecclesiastical origin, were replaced by others with the same characteristics but predominantly of biblical, psalmic origin; in this new form they were introduced into the office in the «little hours».

II. GREATER LITANY

It was a procession held in Rome from S. Lorenzo in Lucina to S. Pietro. Since the pope and the entire papal court took part in it, it acquired such a character of solemnity above that of the other processions that already in the time of Gregorio Magno (PL 77, 1329) it was called the greater litany. Held on 25 April (for this reason they were also called the litanies or processions of S. Marco), it was the Christian version of the pagan processions held in spring in the countryside to implore from the gods, and later from God through the intercession of the saints, the successful outcome of the sowing. The pagan procession followed the Via Flaminia and, upon reaching a grove near Ponte Milvio, the flamen Quirinalis sacrificed to Robigus the entrails of a dog and a sheep. According to G. Belet (Ration. div. off., chap. 123), Pope Liberius (352–66), on converting it into a Christian observance, retained the route and replaced the sacrifice with a station at S. Pietro. The procession had a festive character, which became penitential in the Middle Ages; at the end of the 12th century it still possessed a character of great solemnity and proceeded from the Lateran to the Vatican.

Through the usual Roman influences, the greater litany was copied in other cities. In the case of Milan, it is mentioned in a diploma of 957 and by Beroldus in the 12th century (ed. Magistretti, p. 122), with a procession of the archbishop and clergy from the Duomo to S. Vittore and then to the adjacent chapel of S. Gregorio; for this reason it came to be called the greater litany, a title already possessed by the triduan litanies. While in Rome and Milan the procession disappeared (in Milan it is now held in the Duomo as a simple rite), it remained in the countryside.

III. MINOR LITANIES

Their institution is attributed to s. Mamerto, bishop of Vienne in the Dauphiné, who, as Gregory of Tours relates (Hist. Franc., II, 34), around 470, following an earthquake and other calamities, «appropinquante Ascensione Domini, in-

dixit jejunium triduanum in populo cum gemitu et contritione», accompanying it with a procession that halted at various churches in the city. This was a form of penance and propitiation already practiced, and over the centuries others would be organized. But perhaps because of the severity of the disasters—which would also explain the introduction of penitential days during the joyful Easter period—or because of its careful organization, this triduum became so customary that a few decades later Caesarius of Arles (d. 543) could say: istos tres dies regulariter in toto mundo celebrat Ecclesia (Sermo 173), even though, in fact, at the end of the 7th century they were still unknown in England, Germany, and Rome, where they were introduced by Leo III (795–816). By the 8th century they were already included in the Liturgical Ordinal of all the principal churches (cathedrals and pleban churches only; the urban and rural parishes were respectively required to assemble at the cathedral and the pieve).

In the individual Churches, particular ceremonies were added to the general rite. M. Righetti (Storia liturgica, II, Milan 1947, p. 205) recalls the custom in Liguria of carrying in the three processions a banner bearing a dragon in three successive representations over the three days, illustrating its defeat (1 cum cauda erecta; 2 cum cauda aliquantulum inclinata; 3 cum cauda pianissima). At Padua there was a similar custom, but on the third day the banner was thrown into a canal. At Milan, on the other hand, the penitential character was affirmed on the first day by the distribution of ashes on the heads of the clergy and the faithful, followed by walking barefoot and wearing hair shirts. During the lengthy processions, which in some places lasted until late afternoon, psalms were sung, later (7th c.) replaced by antiphons, some of them in honor of the mysteries and saints to whom the churches where the procession halted were dedicated, both to allow a little rest and to give time for some reading. At Rouen, Milan, Vercelli, and Genoa, a Mass was added, but only the Mass of the catechumens; in the last church, that of the faithful was then celebrated.

In some Churches, the three days were assigned to another period. The Council of Gerona in 517 had established that Spain should celebrate the litanies on the last three days of the week of Pentecost; at Milan, on the first three days of the week after the Ascension, still, however, during the Easter season, when, according to the teaching of s. Ambrose, no fast was to be practiced. For this reason s. Arialdo opposed the practice as an innovation, though perhaps it was not one and appeared so to him only because it had long since fallen into disuse through negligence. Since the introduction of the litanies at Milan by s. Lazarus on the occasion of Attila’s invasions is legendary, s. Eusebius has been proposed, on the basis of a testimony from the 16th century and another, much vaguer one, from the 13th century; in any case, one cannot go beyond the period of the 5th–7th centuries. The routes were subsequently adapted to urban changes: the best known are those of Archbishop Odelpert in the 9th century, of Archbishop Ottone in 1284, and of s. Carlo in the 16th century.

At times they gave rise to disorders condemned in many synods, which nevertheless always strongly recommended the pious practice that disappeared almost everywhere as a procession in the last century, remaining as a prayer of the Office.
IV. L. OF THE SAINTS. — They consist of a very ancient formular (some elements date from the 3rd century) of the Oratio fidelium, which in the Middle Ages came to be preceded by a list of saints arranged according to the same criterion as that of the Canon of the Mass, and whose selection was inspired by the local commemorations of the great Roman martyrs. At first very brief, as it is still preserved in the Ordo of St-Amand, it subsequently underwent considerable development, as can already be seen in the Gregorian Sacramentary contained in cod. Ottoboniano 313 (9th century). The other Churches and the celebrated monasteries of antiquity each had their own litany, sometimes consisting almost entirely of the names of the saints whose distinguished relics or memorials were preserved there. But the Roman form ultimately prevailed and established itself definitively in all the Western Churches, except Milan, whose litanies consist solely of the names of the saints, and where they are customarily sung in the rites of Baptism and the funeral, to invoke their aid at the two most important stages of life.
V. L. LAURETANE. — Only by speaking improperly can one assert that they date back to the earliest Christian centuries. Lists of graceful titles addressed to the Most Holy Virgin Mary are especially frequent among Eastern writers, and these constituted a rich source of inspiration. In a manuscript from Mainz dating from the 12th century one reads: Letania de domina nostra Dei Genitrice Virgine Maria. Oratio valde bona cettidie pro quacumque tribitudine dicenda est. This is the oldest recension known today, followed by others from the 15th century, all inspired as a model by the litanies of the saints. Toward the end of the 1400s they assumed new forms: with the deprecations and particular prayer intentions suppressed, they took on the form and name they possess because of the distinguished place they have always held in the sanctuary of Loreto. The author and date of composition are unknown; the text is inspired by Sacred Scripture and the Fathers. The first documents mentioning them at Loreto date from 1531, 1547, and 1554; they were officially approved by Sixtus V in 1587. To ensure their greater stability and preservation without alteration, in three decrees (of 1631, 1821, and 1839) the Sacred Congregation of Rites prohibited any addition without the permission of the Holy See; during the First World War, Benedict XV introduced the invocation: Regina pocis, ora pro nobis, and Pius XII, on the occasion of the dogmatic definition of the Assumption of the Virgin: Maria in coelum assumpta (AAS, 42 [1950], p. 795). The introduction and conclusion, identical to those of the saints, recall the l.’s original derivation. From the 16th century onward, other litanies of the Madonna were written, some even after Clement VIII’s prohibition in 1601; but they were short-lived and scarcely resonant, except for the “new litanies” of 1575 at Loreto, which nevertheless began their decline when an attempt was made to disseminate them everywhere, a request submitted to Gregory XIII but not granted.

VI. LITANIES OF THE SACRED HEART

Some references to them are found in the writings of St. Margherita Alacoque. She knew two forms of them: that composed by Sister Joly of the Visitation of Dijon around 1686, translated and published in Latin in 1689; and that of Mother de Soudeilles, superior of the Visitation of Moulins, printed in 1687. A third was composed by Fr. Croiset and inserted in the second edition of his La devozione al Cuore di Gesù. Others followed, but all, without distinction, had the character of private devotion. Cardinal Perraud, bishop of Autun, appears to have taken the initiative in seeking official approval, presenting a final version of 33 invocations drawn for the most part from the preceding litanies and arranged in the desired order. They were approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites by decree of 27 June 1898.

VII. OTHER L

The litanies of the dying in the Ordo commendationis animae (v. ANIMA, RACCOMANDAZIONE dell'); the litanies of the Most Holy Name of Jesus approved by Leo XIII on 16 January 1886 (Acta S. Sedis, 18 [1885-86], pp. 509-11); the litanies of St Joseph approved by Pius X on 18 March 1909 (AAS, 1 [1909], pp. 290-92).

id., La prece universale, ibid., pp. 60-74; E. Campana, Maria nel culto, I, Turin 1946, pp. 610-36; G. Roschini, Mariologia, I, Rome 1948, pp. 102-104; J. Gajard, La prière litanique Divinor pacis, in Rev. créatorienne, 27 (1948), pp. 4-16; M. Righetti, Storia liturgica, III, Milan 1949, pp. 76-79, 170-74, 242-47, 527, 542. Enrico Cattaneo