“Amen, amen I say to you: if you ask the Father any thing in my name, he will give it you”. ~John 16:23
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The Rogation Days consist of plaintive litanies to God and the saints chanted while the faithful proceed through town and country and the priest blesses their land and property. These processions*, which are penitential in character, end with Mass.
There are two sets of Rogation Days. The first, called the “Major” or “Greater” Litanies, is celebrated on April 25th. The second, called the “Minor” or “Lesser” Litanies, is celebrated on the three days immediately preceding Ascension Thursday.
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Why do we go around the fields in processions? To beg God to bless the fields with His fatherly hand, to give and preserve the fruits of the earth, and as He fills the animals with blessings, and gives them food at the proper time, so may He give to as also our necessary food. ~Instruction Concerning the Procession of Rogation Days, Rev. Fr. Leonard Goffine’s The Church’s Year
With what intentions should we take part in a procession? With the intention of glorifying God, of thanking Him for all. His graces, and of obtaining aid and comfort from Him in all our corporal and spiritual needs; with the view of professing our faith openly before the whole world, and with the sincere resolution of always following Christ, the Crucified, in the path of penance and mortification. He who entertains other intentions and takes part, perhaps, for temporal advantages, or for sinful pleasures, or to avoid labor, sins against God and the Church who weeps over and condemns such abuses. ~Instruction Concerning the Procession of Rogation Days, Rev. Fr. Leonard Goffine’s The Church’s Year
Favorably receive our prayers, O Lord, we beseech Thee; may we in our distress be consoled by Thy gifts and grow in love accordingly. Through our Lord . . .
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Resources:
- Litany of Saints Download ~ Sanctus Simplicitus
- Instruction Concerning the Procession of Rogation Days ~ Rev. Fr. Leonard Goffine’s The Church’s Year
- Rogation Days – Extraordinary Form (Tridentine) ~ St. John Cantius Parish
- The Greater and Lesser Rogation Days ~ St. John Cantius Parish
- The Liturgical Year – Paschal Time Vol. III ~ By: Dom Gueranger Imprimatur 1927 via Sanctus Simplicitus
- Rogation Day – 2012 ~ JOYfilledfamily
- Rogation Day – 2011 ~ JOYfilledfamily
- Rogation Day – 2010 ~ JOYfilledfamily
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*Processions are a figure of our pilgrimage on earth; we are strangers and wanderers here below, our journey reaches from this valley of tears to the heavenly Sion, the procession therefore returns into the house of God; our journey leads over the thorny ways of life, the procession therefore takes place in the open air, where the pilgrim is exposed to all kinds of weather; they are a powerful incentive to fervor in prayer for the faithful; when hundreds, even thousands of faithful praise God aloud, or cry to Him for help and mercy, must not even the coldest heart be roused to vivid, fervent devotion, since Christ has promised to be present even where two or three are assembled in His name? Processions are an open acknowledgment that praise, thanks and adoration are due to God alone, while they are a public profession of our faith in Christ, the Crucified; they are a solemn thanksgiving for being permitted to profess Christ, our Lord, before the whole world, as also for all the graces obtained through Him; they are a public testimonial of our faith in the one, holy, Catholic Church, whose members are united by the same bond of faith, and who form under their head, Christ, one family in God. Finally, they are a sign of the triumph of Christian faith over the darkness of heathenism. If processions are solemnized with such intentions, with order and dignity, with fervent devotion, in the light of faith, they are indeed a pleasing sight for angels and men. ~Instruction Concerning the Procession of Rogation Days, Rev. Fr. Leonard Goffine’s The Church’s Year
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