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LITANY

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 783 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LITANY . This word (Acraveia), like Xtrit (both from Xfroµac), is used by See also:

Eusebius and See also:Chrysostom, commonly in the plural, in a See also:general sense, to denote a See also:prayer or prayers of any sort, whether public or private; it is similarly employed in the See also:law of See also:Arcadius (See also:Cod. Theod. xvi. tit. 5, See also:leg. 30), which forbids heretics to hold assemblies in the See also:city " ad litaniam faciendam." But some trace of a more technical meaning is found in the See also:epistle (Ep. 63) of See also:Basil to the See also:church of Neocaesarea, in which he argues, against those who were objecting to certain innovations, that neither were " litanies " used in the See also:time of See also:Gregory Thaumaturgus. The nature of the recently introduced litanies, which must be assumed to have been practised at Neocaesarea in Basil's See also:day, can only be conjectured; probably they had many points in See also:common with the " rogationes," which, according to Sidonius See also:Apollinaris, had been coming into occasional use in See also:France about the beginning of the 5th See also:century, especially when See also:rain or See also:fine See also:weather was desired, and, so far as the three fast days before See also:Ascension were concerned, were first fixed, for one particular See also:district at least, by Mamertus or Mamercus of See also:Vienne (A.D. C. 45o). We gather that they were See also:penitential and intercessory prayers offered by the community while going about in procession, See also:fasting and clothed in sackcloth. In the following century themanner of making litanies was to some extent regulated for the entire Eastern See also:empire by one of the Novels of Justinian, which forbade their celebration without the presence of the bishops and See also:clergy, and ordered that the crosses which were carried in procession should not be deposited elsewhere than in churches, nor be carried by any but duly appointed persons. The first See also:synod of See also:Orleans (A.D.

511) enjoins for all See also:

Gaul that the " litanies " before Ascension be celebrated for three days; on these days all menials are to be exempt from See also:work, so that every one may be See also:free to attend divine service. The See also:diet is to be the same as in Quadragesima; clerks not observing these rogations are to be punished by the See also:bishop. In A.D. 517 the synod of Gerunda provided for two sets of " litanies "; the first were to be observed for three days (from See also:Thursday to Saturday) in the See also:week after See also:Pentecost with fasting, the second for three days from See also:November 1. The second See also:council of See also:Vaison (529), consisting of twelve bishops, ordered the See also:Kyrie eleison—now first introduced from the Eastern Church—to be sung at See also:matins, See also:mass and See also:vespers. A synod of See also:Paris (573) ordered litanies to be held for three days at the beginning of See also:Lent, and the fifth synod of See also:Toledo (636) appointed litanies to be observed throughout the See also:kingdom for three days from See also:December 14. The first mention of the word litany in connexion with the See also:Roman Church goes back to the pontificate of I'elagius I. (555), but implies that the thing was at that time already old. In 590 Gregory I., moved by the pestilence which had followed an inundation, ordered a "litania septiformis," sometimes called litania See also:major, that is to say, a sevenfold procession of clergy, laity, plonks, virgins, matrons, widows, poor and See also:children. It must not be confused with the litania septena used in church on See also:Easter Even. He is said also to have appointed the processions or litanies of See also:April 25 (St See also:Mark's day), which seem to have come in the See also:place of the ceremonies of the old Robigalia. In 747 the synod of Cloveshoe ordered the litanies or rogations to be gone about on April 25 " after the manner of the Roman Church," and on the three days before Ascension " after the manner of our ancestors." The latter are still known in the See also:English Church as Rogation Days.

See also:

Games, See also:horse racing, junkettings were forbidden; and in the litanies the name of See also:Augustine was to be inserted after that of Gregory. The reforming synod of See also:Mainz in 813 ordered the major litany to be observed by all for three days in sackcloth and ashes, and See also:bare-See also:foot. The sick only were exempted. As regards the See also:form of words prescribed for use in these " litanies " or " supplications," documentary See also:evidence is defective. Sometimes it would appear that the " procession " or " litany " did nothing else but See also:chant Kyrie eleison without variation. There is no See also:reason to doubt that from an See also:early See also:period the See also:special written litanies of the various churches all showed the common features which are now regarded as essential to a litany, in as far as they consisted of (1) invocations, (2) deprecations, (3) intercessions, (4) supplications. But in details they must have varied immensely. The offices of the Roman See also:Catholic Church at See also:present recognize two litanies, the " Litaniae majores " and the "Litaniae breves," which differ from one another chiefly in respect of the fulness with which details are entered upon under the heads mentioned above. It is said that in the time of See also:Charlemagne the angels Orihel, Raguhel, Tobihel were invoked, but the names were removed by See also:Pope See also:Zacharias as really belonging to demons. In some See also:medieval litanies there were special invocations of S. Fides, S. See also:Spes, S.

Charitas. The litanies, as given in the See also:

Breviary, are at present appointed to be recited on bended See also:knee, along with the penitential See also:psalms, in all the six week-days of Lent when See also:ordinary service is held. Without the psalms they are said on the feast of See also:Saint Mark and on the three rogation days. A litany is chanted in procession before mass on See also:Holy Saturday. The " litany " or " general supplica- tion of the Church of See also:England, which is appointed " to be sung or said after See also:morning prayer upon Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and at other times when it shall be commanded by the ordinary," closely follows the " Litaniae majores " of the Breviary, the invocations of See also:saints being of course omitted. A similar See also:German litany will be found in the See also:works of See also:Luther. r6 In the Roman Church there are a number of special litanies See also:peculiar to particular localities or orders, such as the " Litanies of See also:Mary" or the "Litanies of the Sacred Name of Jesus." There was originally a See also:close connexion between the litany and the See also:liturgy (q.v.). The ninefold Kyrie eleison at the beginning of the Roman Mass is a relic of a longer litany of which a specimen may still be seen in the See also:Stowe See also:missal. In the Ambrosian liturgy, the threefold Kyrie eleison or Lesser Litany occurs thrice, after the Gloria in excelsis, after the See also:gospel and at the end of Mass; and on the first five Sundays in Lent a missal litany is placed before the Oratio super populum, and on the same five Sundays in the Mozarabic rite before the epistle. In Eastern liturgies litanies are a prominent feature, as in the See also:case of the See also:deacon's litany at the beginning of the Missa fidelium in the Clementine liturgy, immediately before the Anaphora in the See also:Greek liturgy of St See also:James, &c. (F. E.

End of Article: LITANY

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