Rogation Days - Do You or Your Parish Observe them?

[TrueLight]

For those who attend traditional parishes like the FSSP or diocesan EF’s, do you or your parish observe Rogation days?

It looks like we are going to have a procession this year.

What do you do? Do you fast the day before?

Are there any special devotions?

Do share!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogation_days
Rogation days are, in the calendar of the Western Church, four days traditionally set apart for solemn processions to invoke God’s mercy. They are April 25, the Major Rogation, coinciding with St. Mark’s Day (but having no connection with it); and the three days preceding Ascension Day, the Minor Rogations

The faithful typically observed the Rogation days by fasting in preparation to celebrate the Ascension, and farmers often had their crops blessed by a priest at this time, which always occurs during the spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Violet vestments are worn at the rogation litany and its associated Mass, regardless of what colour was worn at the ordinary liturgies of the day. A common feature of Rogation days in former times was the ceremony of “beating the bounds”, in which a procession of parishioners, led by the minister, churchwarden, and choirboys, would proceed around the boundary of their parish and pray for its protection in the forthcoming year. This was also known as ‘Gang-day’.

 

[odile53]

When I was a little kid, back on the reservation, the parish priest noted the deep attachment that we Seneca had to changes in seasons. It figures: We’re only a few hundred years away from the Stone Age, and the traditional Iroquois religion had six thanksgiving feasts that pretty much followed the appearance of various crops, the harvest time, and the middle of the winter. So it was a pretty easy jump for those of us who were Catholic (my people have been Catholic since the time of the Blackrobes,) to celebrate Rogation Days.

As I recall, we had Mass, preceded by a procession. The kids who had made their First Communion that year were in their First Communion regalia, the rest of the Catholic school kids in their school uniforms, the parish chapter of the Knights of Columbus were there, and just about everyone who had time off from work. Sometimes representative crops from the season were carried (I had to lug a jug of maple syrup with me once during the spring procession.) The procession started a few blocks away at the fire hall and went to the church. We prayed the Rosary during the procession, and a couple of guys carried a banner of some seasonally appropriate image of Jesus. That was no mean stunt for a nine year old kid to carry a big jug of maple syrup in one hand and a rosary in the other one!

Mass was, well, Mass, in what today would be the Extraordinary Form. Remember, this was pre- Vatican II.

Afterwards, there was always some kind of pot luck dinner in the church hall. We natives are big on pot luck dinners. Lots of friendly competition among the ladies, and in the wintertime, the men (in terms of hunting prowess.)

We natives loved Rogation Days as they were celebrated on the reservation!

My family moved away a few months after my ninth birthday and moved to Manhattan, where my dad had a job waiting for him in an architectural firm that eventually designed and built the World Trade Center. That was in the late summer. Mom went to Mass on Rogation Day, and couldn’t believe that it wasn’t observed by anything more than a notation in the church bulletin. She never actually came out and said so, but judging from the expression on her face, I think she was wondering if she actually had attended Mass that day at a genuine Catholic church!

After the priest that was at that church left, Rogation Days on the rez pretty much went the way of the dodo bird. The K of C tried to at least keep the feastings going, but it died out after a few years.

You just woke up some very fond memories there.

 

[jwinch2]

Very interesting. This is the first I have heard of this practice.

Peace,

 

[formeratl]

Prince of Peace in Taylors, SC is also having one this year. This is a diocesan parish that celebrates the EF daily. I think it is a great thing to revive these processions!

 

[MissRose73]

I’ve never heard of them until now but I like the description of them.

 

[YoungTradCath]

Prince of Peace in Taylors, SC is also having one this year. This is a diocesan parish that celebrates the EF daily. I think it is a great thing to revive these processions!

I live in Sumter. It’s horrible, I wish I was closer to Taylors. Your parish is magnificently lucky to have two priests who celebrate the EF.

 

[corsair]

Yes, we will be celebrating Rogation days. Not our OF parish but our EF parish.

odile53, I must be native american too cause I love potlucks. Right?

 

[Rich_C]

My fiancee and I have been observing the Ember Days since Advent and we’re hoping to do something this week, probably a fast and reading something spiritual related to penance.

Unfortunately I don’t think our parish has anything planned this year.

 

[TrueLight]

My fiancee and I have been observing the Ember Days since Advent and we’re hoping to do something this week, probably a fast and reading something spiritual related to penance.

Unfortunately I don’t think our parish has anything planned this year.

Thanks for the answers everyone.

Can you talk a little more about how you view its penitential nature? Don’t mean to put you on the spot.

 

[tradcathusa]

yes they are observed. Our old priest was in a smaller parish before our current one and he was able to actually have a procession around the parish boundaries, blessing the parish. Our parish is so large the procession is on church grounds. Our parish is FSSP.

 

[enbell]

Very interesting. This is the first I have heard of this practice.

Peace,

ME too! This is why I love these boards

 

[Chatter163]

When I was a child in the Episcopal Church, we had “Mass” on these days. My FSSP parish now will do something this year, probably a procession.

 

[giuseppeTO]

The Rogation Days are a big deal with u. Even our kids who are no longer at home still are excited about them. Rogation days and the Major and Minor Litanies are great traditions of the church.

R**OGATION DAYS

    The Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension Thursday are

called the Rogation Days.

    The origination of the Rogations goes back to the fifth century,

when St. Mamertus, the archbishop of Vienne in France, was faced with
many calamities in his diocese. There were wars, earthquakes, fires,
and attacks by wild animals. During one of the terrible fires that
threatened his city, the archbishop began to pray zealously, and the
fire went out.

    On Easter night, when a more serious fire was about to destroy the

city, the good bishop again prayed, and the fire was immediately
extinguished. The archbishop then instituted the Rogation Days, from
the Latin word “rogare,” meaning “to request.” This practice ultimately
spread to the whole Church. Wars, fires, earthquakes, and attacks by
wild animals remind us of the present day as well.

    In the Gospel of this Sunday before the Rogation Days, the

Fifth Sunday of Easter, which is therefore known as Rogation Sunday,
Christ says that if you ask the Father anything in His name, He will
grant the request, in the way that is bst for our souls. We certainly
have many things to pray for in our times. Each of us can make a
special effort on these three days to take some additional time to lift
our minds in prayer – for the propogation of the Faith, for the Church
and the clergy, and for our temporal needs.**