Rogation Days

Rogation Days in the calendar of the Western Church, four days traditionally set apart for solemn processions to invoke God's mercy. They are Apr. 25, the Major Rogation, coinciding with St. Mark's Day; and the three days preceding Ascension Day, the Minor Rogations. The processions are Christian adaptations of Roman pagan ones; in rural districts they are regarded as blessing the fields. The prayers include the Litany of the Saints (see litany ). Such liturgical usages are no longer prescribed in the universal Roman Catholic liturgical calendar; observance is left to the discretion of the national councils of bishops.

Rogation days. In W. churches, days of prayer and fasting in the early summer, associated with intercession (Lat., rogare, ‘ask’), especially for the harvest.

Rogation Days. In W. Christendom certain prescribed days of prayer and fasting in early summer, associated with prayer for the harvest. The ‘Major Rogation’ on 25 Apr. was a Christianized version of the pagan Robigalia, which involved a procession through the fields to pray for the preservation of the crops from mildew. The ‘Minor Rogations’, on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension Day, derived from the processional litanies ordered by St *Mamertus of Vienne (c.470), when his diocese was troubled by volcanic eruptions. In the C of E the BCP of 1662 ordered the observance of the three (minor) Rogations as ‘Days of Fasting and Abstinence’. In the RC Church the Rogation Days were replaced in 1969 by periods of prayer for the needs of mankind, the fruits of the earth, and the works of men's hands; these may be arranged at any time of year.