Rogations (Litaniae Majores and Minores)

ROGATIONS (Litaniae Majores and Minores). - Processions ordered by the Church to implore heavenly aid; those that occur every year are ordinary, and extraordinary if ordered in times of calamity (e.g., those ordered 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 the pagans. They are inspired by the same need and the same sentiment, with similar rites to purify and bless the cultivated fields.

1. The R. of April 25 are called the major ones, and already in a formula of invitation of 598 (Lib. Pont., II, 36) not in comparison with the Gallican ones called minor, but in contrast to the other Roman ones less solemn or important or ancient. They replaced the pagan processions to implore aid for a good outcome of the sowings, especially against the danger of rust in the grain. In Rome two processions were in use, that of the "Robigalia" ([v.], urban) and those of the "Ambarvalia" ([v.], rural),

G. Belet, in the Rationale divinorum officiorum, ch. 123, says that Pope Liberius (352-366) replaced the pagan "Robigalia" with the 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 Gregorianum it began from the church of St. Lawrence in Lucina, the first station was held at St. Valentine's near Ponte Milvio, from where it turned left toward the Vatican, a third station was held at a cross that can no longer be identified today, to end with the Mass in the basilica of St. Peter.

2. The minor R. have their origin in Gaul, and St. Mamertus, bishop of Vienne (d. ca. 470), is made their author, but in reality they are the 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 in the time of St. Caesarius; meanwhile the Council of Orléans (511, can. 27) prescribed the procession, called "Rogationes", for all of Gaul, on the three days before the Ascension with fasting and cessation from servile works. From France the r. passed into Spain, where instead of before the Ascension they were held in the week after Pentecost, thus corresponding better to the ancient discipline of not fasting in the Quinquagesima after Easter (Council of Girona of 517, can. 2); similarly r. were held on 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 Clovesho of 747 (can. 16). Milan and an unidentified Church of upper Italy, of the 7th-8th century, celebrated them on the three ferias that follow the Sunday after the 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 Ordines Romani of the late 13th century, 25 and XIV, 49, 52 contain them, by virtue of a compromise: the fast was abolished and only the three-day procession with the Mass of the major litanies was retained.

Today the major litanies as well as the minor ones have the same liturgy, except for the stational churches: during the procession, from the 9th century the litany of the saints is sung; originally psalms were recited (perhaps psalm 69 is an indication of this) with intercalated collects, and formulas of a litanic kind were added (Kyrie eleison; te rogamus, audi nos); at the end the stational Mass. During the route, in another church or chapel, a brief stop was made, to sing an antiphon in honor of the titular saint, with the relative versicle or collect; a use already mentioned 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 Catecumenorum" is added, composed of Introit, Collects, Epistle, Gradual and Gospel.

Of the penitential character of the Gallican r. only the violet color of the cope (in the procession) and of the chasuble (in the Mass) has remained. The Gallican r. lasted almost a whole day and had the character of severe penance (the participants went barefoot, clothed in sackcloth and with their heads sprinkled with ashes). In Milan until a few years ago they were days of abstinence and fasting; even today, on the first day, the function opens 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 lessons were prescribed, as, 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 in the Middle Ages and have preserved until now one of the first places among popular devotions.

Pietro Siffrin