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Views from the Choir Loft

The Greater Litanies & the Meaning of Liturgical Processions

Fr. David Friel · April 25, 2021

UR CHURCH boasts a multiplicity of processions. These processions pervade not only the liturgical year, but even every Mass. In the Roman Rite, for example, we have a procession to the altar at the start of Mass and another one to the place for the reading of the Gospel. There also developed a procession at the offertory and a procession of the faithful to the communion rail. We have festive processions on Corpus Christi, commemorative processions on Candlemas and Palm Sunday, and penitential processions on Rogation days. We also have special processions at our disposal for all sorts of intentions: for imploring rain, for imploring fair weather, in time of famine, in time of pandemic, in time of war, and for giving thanks to God.

What is the purpose of all this processing? What is the meaning of all this walking around?

On one level, liturgical processions remind us that we are pilgrims—members of a pilgrim Church, making our way on toward eternity. When we join in a procession, we are praying with our bodies, just like when we stand, sit, and kneel. We are an incarnational people, and processing is one way in which we express who we are as wayfarers en route to heaven.

On another level, the particular procession observed annually on April 25th has a specific significance that should not be overlooked. The Rogation procession is one of the oldest processions in the whole of Christian liturgy, and it is also one of the clearest examples of a Christian celebration that was developed to replace a pagan celebration.

The pagan festival of Robigalia was celebrated in ancient Rome each year on April 25th. Robigalia was a celebration that besought the “god” Robigo to spare the crops, preserving the grain from mildew. Around the year AD 450, however, this date was given a new Christian significance. Nearly sixteen centuries old at this point, the Rogation procession is an incredibly ancient tradition.

What is the meaning of this particular procession? The Greater Litanies and the Rogation procession are about beseeching God’s mercy, that He might govern the world and all that lies therein with gentle providence. When Christians baptized the festival of Robigalia, we kept the sense of needing God’s help, but we placed our needfulness not in the hands of a false “god,” but rather in the hands of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

In the course of time, Christians gave to this occasion a beautiful reading from the Epistle of St. James, wherein we recall the humble trust of Elijah. Elijah prayed for a drought . . . and a drought of three-and-a-half years ensued (cf., 1 Kgs 17)! Then Elijah prayed for rain, and the Scriptures tells us that “the sky gave rain and the Earth brought forth its fruit” (James 5:18).

Today’s ceremonies, therefore, are about invoking the merciful providence of the living God upon our world. They are about acknowledging our own powerlessness to govern the affairs of our lives and our world. They are about expressing trust in the goodness of God, Who wills to provide for us, if only we will let Him. All of this is bound up in the ritual action of the Greater Litanies and the Rogation procession and Mass.

Rogation days are not something that ought to be consigned to a former era, when “less-sophisticated” people had minimal “control” over their environment and were therefore somehow more dependent upon the Deity to look favorably upon them. Modern man has just as much need for such an occasion today as the ancients had back in the fifth century when the Rogation procession began.

In fact, in a world that sees itself as self-sufficient—a world that thinks it has it all figured out and that seems to believe it can operate perfectly well without the intervention of any Godhead at all—perhaps the Greater Litanies and the Rogation Mass are needed more than ever before.

From volume 1 (“The Sacraments and Processions”) of Rev. Philip T. Weller’s edition of the Roman Ritual:

Precisely because the world openly flaunts its indifference and incredulity, the true followers of Christ should accept the challenge and seize the opportunity of holding public processions, so as to avow their unflinching stand. If these proceed from the heart, if they are carried out in a spirit of earnest prayer, deep reverence, and faith, characterized by penitence, gratitude, and Christian joy, the grace they procure and the edification they give will be inestimable.

When a ruthless and greedy government parades its manpower in threat for or incitement to war, the Church can counteract with a calm and confident procession for peace. When the downtrodden are driven angrily to demand bread of their overlords, the Church instead has a procession for the time of famine. When the worldlings curse and despair in their powerlessness against the acts of God and His visitations, the people of God have recourse to the ritual prayers and processions for the time of plague, drought, flood, or tempest.

In place of revelry and gross ebullition to celebrate a victory or a bountiful harvest, Christ’s Mystic Body can celebrate with a procession of thanksgiving. While the world honors its dubious heroes with fanfare and confetti, the Church pays homage and respect to the bones of the glorious company of martyrs, confessors, and virgins. To atone for the heresiarchs’ blasphemy in rejecting our Lord’s gift of His Body and Blood, Catholics venerate and adore It in streets and fields on Corpus Christi. As an aid to enhance and explain the mystery re-enacted in the Mass of Candlemas and Palm Sunday, there is a preliminary procession of the Church, the Bride of Jesus, going to meet her divine Spouse.1

May our time spent processing here on Earth prepare us for the life of heaven!

NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   The Roman Ritual in Latin and English with Rubrics and Plainchant Notation, vol. 1, trans. and ed. Philip T. Weller (1950; repr. Boonville, NY: Preserving Christian Publications, 2007), 478-479.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

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Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Extraordinary Form 1962 Missal, Passing on Tradition Last Updated: April 25, 2021

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

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President’s Corner

    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“During Lent…the use of musical instruments is allowed only so as to support the singing. Nevertheless, Laetare Sunday (the Fourth Sunday of Lent), Solemnities and Feasts are exceptions to this rule.”

— ‘Roman Missal, 3rd Edition (2011)’

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