Volume 1

A dictionary of Christian antiquities : being a continuation of the 'Dictionary of the Bible' / edited by William Smith and Samuel Cheetham ; illustrated by engravings on wood.

Date:
[between 1890 and 1899?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A dictionary of Christian antiquities : being a continuation of the 'Dictionary of the Bible' / edited by William Smith and Samuel Cheetham ; illustrated by engravings on wood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    1024/1096 (page 1004)
    church of the Blessed Martyr Cecilia (S. Greg. Ep. lib. ii. 2). lu another passage Gregory speaks of litanies as already in existence, and their observance as familiar to the people :— “The return of this annual devotional cele- bration reminds us, beloved brethren, that we ought, by the help of God, to celebrate with earnest and devout hearts the litany which is called by all the greater (major).” But there is an uncertainty. It may well be that Gregory found some litanies on a smaller scale in existence, and developed them. These litanies on St. Mark’s day are still observed in the Ambrosian rite. 2. There were the litanies on the three Rogation days. These are said to have been instituted by St. Mamertus, archbishop of Vienne, A.D. 477. St. Avitus, his disci^ile, Sidonius Apollinaris (lib. i. 7, &;c.), and Gregory of Tours (^Hist. Franc, lib. ii. c. 34), relate the circumstances. The latter says there had been a great and destructive earthquake in the city of Vienne, which also suti'ered from war and wild beasts, and that as Mamertus was cele- brating mass on Easter Eve, the royal palace in the city was struck with fire from heaven (divino igne) and destroyed. Upon this, he ordered litanies, with fasting, for the three days previous to Ascension Day. The rite was adopted in other French churches, and enjoined by the council of Orleans, A.D. oil. These litanies were not introduced into the church of Rome till the pontificate of Leo III. (a.d. 795-816). In Spain they were received still later. Accoi’ding to Ambrosian use, they are not observed on the original days of their institution, as is supposed on account of our Lord’s words, “ Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them,” &c. (St. Mark, ii. 19), but a week later, i.e. on the IMonday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in the octave of the Ascension. The litanies are said after terce as on the days in Lent, and are of the same description, but somewhat longer. In the Mozarabic breviary the four days next before Pentecost are ap- pointed as days of fasting — “ad exorandum D^. nostrum J. C. pro peccatis nostris, ac pacem impetrandam vel pro sacris lectionibus audiendis ; et ut veniat Spiritus Paraclitus. et munda nostra reperiat habitacula Ecclesiam D“'. frequentemus” in Brev. Moz.'). The ordinary service is modified by the. addition of short preces at the end of teixe, sext, and none. There is some variation in the name by which the litany of the Rogation days is known. At first it seems to have been called, in Rome at least, letania “minor,” j)artly to distinguish it from the litany on St. Mark’s day, which was always called “major,” and to which the epithet was appropriated, and partly, possibly, as sug- gested by Durandus—“ quae minorem nacta sit auctorem ; non Romanum Poiitificem, sed Ma- mertum Viennae Allobrogum E])isco])um.” These litanies, however, were soon called “ major,” as in the council of Mentz, can. 33, a.d. 813— “ Placuit nobis ut Lit nii major observanda sit a cunctis Christianis diebus tribus,” &c. Me- “ This sevenfold order is said to have been kept up at Tours as late as the 17th c iiiury, the clergy of the seven churches in the city ^tarting each from their own church and meeting in the abbey church of St. Martin. nardus also says (in Litania majore): “Haec Litania m jor est Rogationum, quae in triduo ante Dominican! Ascensionem celebranda,” &c. It was also sometimes called Gallicana, from the country in which it was instituted, while the Litany on St. Mark’s day was called Bomana. The directions for the order of the Litany and proce.ssion on the Rogation days are given very fully from a MS. ceremonial of the Church of Vienne by Martene, iii. 126, and also the Litanies themselves for each day from a MS. ordinary of the church of Lyons. They present no peculiar features, but are interesting as pointing out clearly where the Stations occur, and at what churches. They are always said after Terce. After the ordinary litany, in which no psalm is said (Nulla dicas capitula sed ora- tionem tantum), Sext is said, the pr'^cessional office continuing with more invocations and anti- phons, and at the last station of the day None is said, and then Mass. Afterwards the proces- sion returns, saying alternately certain preces, and the whole teimiinates with the “ 1 itany for any trouble ” [Letania de quacunque tribu- latione]. Litanies of the same character were said in some churches at other times. Thus the Moza rabic breviary prescribes Litanies and days of fasting on the Jejunium calendarum J mu trii, i.e. the three days next before the Epiphany, for three days before the festival of 8t. Cyprian [Sept. 13], and for three days before that of St. Martin [Nov. 11], called J ejunium calendarum Novemhris, as well as on certain other weekdays. The Ambrosian rite also appoints Litanies for the week days of the last week in Advent, called Ftriae de Exceptato. 3. Certain Litanies were also called septenary, quinary, ternary (septena, qniiui, triu i). They were thus said at the font on Easter Eve: The first subdeacon begiirs Kyrle Eleison, then the second repeats Kyrie ELison, and so on till the seventh. Then the first begins Christe Eleison, and so on till the seventh. Then the first begins Christe audi nos, and so on till the seventh. And the whole Litany is gone through in the same manner, each clause being repeated seven times, once by each of seven subdeacons. In the Invocations of the saints, seven names are recited out of each order of saints (dicuntur de quolibet choro septem sancti), seven from the apostles, seven from the martyrs, seven from the con- fessors, and seven from the virgins. Then follows the quinary litany, said in the same manner by five subdeacons, the names of five saints being recited from each order, and then the ternary, said in the same manner by three.' Litanies were also used at baptisms, at ad- ministering extreme unction, and on other occa- sions, which it is not necessary to specify. In a MS. Pontifical of Salzburg, the following metrical litany occurs :— Rpx sanctorum Angelorum, totum mundura adjuva. Ora priinum tu pro nobis, Virgo niaPT (Jerminis Et ministrl Patns summi, ordines Angplici, hex Sanctorum. Supplicate Christo retii, coetus Apostolici, Supplicetque permagnorum sanguis fu.-ius Martyrum, Rex Sanctorum.