Today, three feasts converge: the Feast of St. Mark,
the Feast of the Second Sunday after Easter also called Good Shepherd
Sunday, and the feast of a Rogation Day. Of these days, the
Second Sunday after Easter receives preference so that is why it is
celebrated; the Rogation Day comes next and that is why it is only
commemorated.
We will speak on the Rogation Days of the Church.
What are the Rogation days?
The term “rogation” comes from the Latin verb rogo, rogare, (to
ask). The Rogation Days are days to appease divine justice, and
to petition for divine protection and blessings. From ancient
times the Church has recognized two types of Rogation Days all in the
Spring. The Major Rogation, or Greater Litany, meaning, “greater
supplication,” is held on April 25, also the Feast of St. Mark, and
three Minor Rogations, or Lesser Litanies, are held on the three days
preceding Ascension Thursday. These four days are all called
Rogation Days as they are all special days of petition. Ideally,
on these days, the Litany of the Saints is chanted in procession
followed by a Rogation Mass.
How did they come about?
All authorities agree that Pope St. Gregory the Great codified April 25
as the day to perform the Major Rogation (Greater Litany).
Referencing Canon Moretti, a famous liturgist, Dom Prosper Gueranger
O.S.B. (The Liturgical Year, vol. 8) says April 25 was selected because
on this day St. Peter entered Rome where he would establish the capital
of Christendom. For this reason the Church of St. Peter was
chosen as the Station of the Great Litany and that is also why it is
considered greater. Other sources (Fr. John Hardon’s
Dictionary and the 1907 Catholic Encyclopedia) say the Feast of the
Major Rogation was introduced to counteract the pagan feast of
Robigalia which honored the false god, Robigus with processions and
supplications. These authorities say St. Gregory used this
preexisting custom to honor the true God.
But there is nothing prohibiting both reasons as correct. God
could have preordained that these two events would converge on the same
date if only to facilitate conversions.
The three Minor Rogations, held on the three days immediately preceding
Ascension Thursday, were introduced in 450 A.D. by Bishop St. Mamertus
in his diocese of Vienne in Gual (France). They were confirmed by
the Fifth Council of Orleans in 511 and approved by Pope Leo III
(795-816). Since ancient times, each Minor Rogation Day was
celebrated at a particular church in Rome (called station church):
Monday at St. Mary Major; Tuesday at St. John of Lateran; and Thursday
at St. Peter.
We will now say the Litany of the Saints to petition our God for
protection and favors. I will put off the vestments and put on a
purple stole then kneel at the altar step. Afterwards, I will
re-vest and the Mass will resume.
But first let me read a lamentation of Dom Prosper Gueranger
found on this feast day in his book The Liturgical Year... a book set
of 15 volumes which I recommend to you all.
He writes,
“We take this
opportunity of protesting against the negligence of Christians on this
subject. Even persons who have the reputation of being spiritual
think nothing of being absent from the Litanies said on St. Mark’s and
the Rogation Days. One would have thought that when the Holy See
took from these days the obligation of abstinence (he writes from the
mid 1800's) the faithful would be so much the more earnest to join in
the duty still left - the duty of prayer. The people’s presence
at the Litanies is taken for granted: and it is simply absurd that a
religious rite of public reparation should be one from which almost all
should keep away...
“This is one of the many instances which might be brought forward of
the strange delusions into which private and isolated devotion is apt
to degenerate. When St. Charles Borromeo first took possession of
his See of Milan, he found this negligence among his people, and that
they left the clergy to go through the Litanies of April 25 by
themselves. He assisted at them himself, and walked barefooted in
the procession. The people soon followed the sainted pastor’s
example.”
While we will not process barefoot, we can at least kneel and pray the
Litany of All Saints with a contrite heart... to appease the anger of
God which we too much deserve, to ask for divine protection against
visible and invisible foes which we dearly need, and to ask God for His
blessings whereby we may advance our peace and our desire for heaven
which we should want very much.
Finally, I encourage you all to say this Litany on the three days
preceding Ascension Thursday. Our Lord will soon leave us...
liturgically speaking. These are most excellent days in
which to ask Him for some parting gifts. This Litany is a grocery
list of most necessary things... for our own salvation, for our
families salvation, for the good of the Church and, indeed, for the
good of all the world. And, certainly, the Good Shepherd will not
be deaf to our pleas before He bids us adieu.