ROGATIONS (Litaniae maiores et minores). – Processions proclaimed by the Church to implore heavenly aid; these are ordinary when they occur every year, and extraordinary if proclaimed in times of calamity (e.g., those ordained by St Gregory in 590 and 603). The ordinary ones are distinguished into major and minor; the former are of Roman origin, the latter Romano-Gallican. They were held in spring and were already in use among pagans. They are inspired by the same need and the same sentiment, with similar rites for purifying and blessing cultivated fields.
1. The R. of 25 April are called “major” already in an invitation formula of 598 (Lib. Pont., II, 36) not in comparison to the Gallican ones called minor, but in contrast to the other Roman ones, less solemn or important or ancient. They replaced pagan processions to implore aid for a good outcome of sowing, especially against the danger of cereal rust. In Rome two processions were in use: that of the “Robigalia” ([v.], urban) and that of the “Ambarvalia” ([v.], rural).
G. Beleth, in the *Rationale divinorum officiorum*, ch. 123, says that Pope Liberius (352–366) replaced the pagan “Robigalia” with Christian R. on the same day. The procession of the Christian R. called “litania quae maior ab omnibus appellatur” (Gregory) had the same itinerary: according to the Gregorian, it began from the church of St Lawrence in Lucina, made the first station at St Valentine near Ponte Milvio, from where it turned left towards the Vatican, made a third station at a cross now indeterminable, and ended with Mass in the basilica of St Peter.
2. The minor R. originated in Gaul, and St Mamertus, Bishop of Vienne (d. c. 470), is credited with them, but in reality they are a continuation of the ancient “Ambarvalia,” which received new impetus from Mamertus when his diocese suffered great calamities (fire, earthquake, war, poor harvest), as St Sidonius Apollinaris says (*Epist.*, V, 14 and VIII, 11).
The first diocese to follow the example of St Mamertus was Clermont, under the same St Sidonius Apollinaris, then Arles at the time of St Caesarius; meanwhile the Council of Orléans (511, can. 27) prescribed the procession, called “Rogationes,” throughout Gaul, on the three days before Ascension, with fasting and cessation from servile work. From France the R. passed into Spain, where instead of before Ascension they were held in the week after Pentecost, thus better corresponding to the ancient discipline of not fasting in the Quinquagesima after Easter (Council of Gerona of 517, can. 2); similarly R. were held in the first days of November (ibid., can. 3; Council of Toledo, 632) and at the autumn equinox. In England the R. were introduced by the Council of Cloveshoe of 747 (can. 16). Milan and an unidentified church of northern Italy, of the 7th–8th century, celebrated them on the three ferias following the Sunday after Ascension. In Germany they were introduced after the Council of Mainz of 813. At the same time, under Leo III (795–816), the Roman liturgy adopted the Frankish R., but not as an institution to be renewed annually; finally the later Roman Ordines (XIII, 25 and XIV, 49, 52) include them, thanks to a compromise: fasting was abolished and only the three-day procession with the Mass of the major litanies was retained.
Today the major litanies, like the minor ones, have the same liturgy, except for the stational churches: during the procession, since the 9th century the litanies of the saints are sung; originally psalms were recited (perhaps an indication is Psalm 69) with interspersed collects and formulas of litanic type (Kyrie eleison; *Te rogamus, audi nos*); finally the stational Mass. Along the route, in another church or chapel, a brief stop was made to sing an antiphon in honour of the titular saint, with the related verse or collect; a usage noted already in the Gothic and ancient Gallican Sacramentaries (in Milan, for example, 13 churches were visited on the first day, 11 on the second, 12 on the third). In Genoa and Milan, even today, as formerly in Vercelli, in Rouen in France, a kind of “Ordo Missae Catechumenorum” is added, composed of Introit, Collect, Epistle, Gradual and Gospel.
Of the penitential character of the Gallican R. only the violet colour of the cope (in the procession) and the chasuble (in the Mass) remains. The Gallican R. lasted almost a whole day and had a severe penitential character (the participants went barefoot, dressed in sackcloth and with ashes sprinkled on their heads). In Milan until a few years ago these were days of abstinence and fasting; even today, on the first day, the function begins with the blessing and imposition of ashes as in the Middle Ages, also in France (Tours) and in Germany (Salzburg and Münster); the Mass is said with black vestments. In the ancient Lectionary of Luxeuil long readings were prescribed, for example, on the first day at Terce the last 10 chapters of St Matthew, at Sext the 1st letter of St Peter, at None the whole book of Tobit. The R. held a prominent place among popular devotions in the Middle Ages and have retained it to this day.
