LITANY. This word (λιτανεία), like λιτή (both from λιτoμαi), is used by Eusebius and Chrysostom, most commonly in the plural, in a quite general sense, to denote a prayer, or prayers, of any sort whatever, whether public or private; ft is similarly employed in the law of Arcadius (Cod. Theod., xvi. tit. 5, leg. 30), which forbids heretics to hold assemblies in the city “ad litaniam faciendam.” But some trace of a more technical meaning is found in the epistle (Ep. 63) of Basil to the church of Neocaesarea, in which he argues, against those who were objecting to certain innovations, that neither were “litanies” used in the time of Gregory Thaumaturgus. The nature of the recently introduced litanies, which must be assumed to have been practised at Neocaesarea in Basil’s day, can only be vaguely conjectured; probably they had many points in common with the “rogationes,” which, according to Sidonius Apollinaris, had been gradually coming into occasional use in France about the beginning of the 5th century, especially when rain or fine weather was desired, and which, so far as the three fast days before Ascension were concerned, were first definitely fixed, for one particular district at least, by Mamertus or Mamercus of Vienne (e. 450 a.d.). We gather that they were penitential and intercessory prayers offered by the community while going about in procession, fasting, and clothed in sackloth. Sidonius alludes to the incongruity of men going “castorinati ad litanias.” In the following century the manner of making litanies (litanias facere) was to some extent regulated for the entire Eastern empire by one of the Novels of Justinian, which forbade their celebration without the presence of the bishops and clergy, and ordered that the crosses ...(which were carried about in procession) should not be deposited elsewhere than in churches, nor be carried by any but such persons as were duly appointed to do so. The first synod of Orleans (511 a.d.) in its twenty-seventh canon enjoins for all Gaul that the “litanies” before Ascension be celebrated for three days; on these days all menials are to be exempt from work, so that every one may be free to attend divine service. The diet is to be the same as in Quadragesima; clerks not observing these rogations are to be punished by the bishop. In 517 a.d. the synod of Gerunda provided for two sets of “litanies”; the first were to be observed for three days (from Thursday to Saturday) in the week after Pentecost with fasting, the second for three days from November 1. A synod of Paris (573) in its tenth canon ordered litanies to be held for three days at the beginning of Lent, and the fifth synod of Toledo (636) appointed litanies to be observed throughout the kingdom for three whole days from December 14. The first mention of the word litany in connexion with the Roman Church goes back to the pontificate of Pelagius 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,” that is to say, a sevenfold procession of clergy, laity, monks, virgins, matrons, widows, poor, and children. He is said also to have appointed the processions or litanies of April 25 (St Mark’s day), which seem to have come in the place of the ceremonies of the old Robigalia. In 7 47 the synod of Cloveshoe (can. 16 and 17) ordered the litanies or rogations to be gone about by all the clergy and people with great reverence,—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 English Church as Rogation Days. Garnis, horse racing, junkettings were forbidden; and in the litanies the name of Augustine was to be inserted after that of Gregory. The reforming synod of Mainz in 813 ordered the major litany to be observed by all for three days, not with horses or in magnificent attire, but in sackcloth and ashes, and barefoot. The sick only were exempted from this command.
As regards the form of words prescribed for use in these “litanies” or “supplications,” documentary evidence is somewhat defective. Sometimes it would appear that the “procession” or “litany” did nothing else but chant “Kyrie eleison” without variation. There is no reason to doubt that from an early period the 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 Catholic Church at 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 each of the four heads mentioned above. It is said that in the time of Charlemagne the angels Orihel, Raguhel, Tobihel were invoked, but the names were removed by Pope Zacharias as really belonging to demons. In some mediaeval litanies there were special invocations of S. Sapientia, S. Fides, S. Spes, S. Charitas. The major litanies, as given in the Breviary, are at present appointed to be recited on bended knee, along with the penitential psalms, in all the six week days of Lent when ordinary service is held. Without the psalms they are said on the feast of Saint Mark and on the three rogation days. They are also chanted in procession before mass on Holy Saturday. The “litany” or “general supplication” of the Church of England, which is appointed “to be sung or said after 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 saints being of course omitted. A very similar German litany will be found in the works of Luther. In the Roman Church there are a number of special litanies peculiar to particular localities or orders, such as the “Litanies of Mary” or the “Litanies of the Sacred Name of Jesus.”
a solemn form of supplication to God. The word is derived from λιτανεία, _supplication_. At first the use of litanies was not fixed to any stated time; but they were employed only as exigencies required. They were observed in imitation of the Ninevites with ardent supplications and fastings, to avert the threatened judgments of fire, earthquake, inundations, or hostile invasions. The days on which they were used were called rogation days. Several of these days were appointed by the canons of different councils, till the seventeenth council of Toledo decreed that litanies should be used in every month. Thus, by degrees, these solemn supplications came to be used weekly, on Wednesdays and Fridays, the ancient stationary days in all churches. As to the form in which litanies are made, namely, in short petitions by the priest with responses by the people, St. Chrysostom derives the custom from the primitive ages, when the priest began and uttered by the Spirit some things fit to be prayed for, and the people joined the intercessions, saying, We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.” When the miraculous gift of the Spirit began to cease, they wrote down several of these forms, which were the original of our present litanies. St. Ambrose has left us one, which agrees in many particulars with that of our own church. About the year 400, litanies began to be used in processions, the people walking barefoot, and repeating them with great devotion. It is pretended that several countries were delivered from great calamities by this means. About the year 600, Gregory the Great, from all the litanies extant, composed the famous sevenfold litany, by which Rome, it is said, was delivered from a grievous mortality. This has served as a pattern to all the western churches since; ...and to it ours of the church of England comes nearer than that of the Romish missal, in which later popes have inserted the invocation of saints, which our Reformers properly expunged. These processional litanies having occasioned much scandal, it was decreed that in future the litanies should be used only within the walls of the church. Before the last review of the Common Prayer, the litany was a distinct service by itself, and used some time after the morning prayer was ended. At present it forms one office with the morning service, being ordered to be read after the third collect for grace, instead of the intercessional prayers in the daily service.
