Litany, inChristian worship and some forms ofJewish worship, is a form ofprayer used in services andprocessions, and consisting of a number of petitions. The word comes throughLatinlitania fromAncient Greekλιτανεία (litaneía), which in turn comes fromλιτή (litḗ), meaning "prayer,supplication".
This form of prayer finds its model in Psalm 136: "Praise the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endures for ever. Praise ye the God of gods . . . the Lord of lords . . . Who alone doth great wonders . . . Who made the heavens", etc., with the concluding words in each verse, "for his mercy endures for ever."[1]
The Litany originated in Antioch in the fourth century and from there was taken to Constantinople and through it to the rest of the East...From Constantinople the Litany was taken to Rome and the West.[2]Josef Andreas Jungmann explains how theKyrie in the Roman Mass is best seen as a vestige of alitany at the beginning of the Mass, like that of some Eastern churches.[3]
Public Christian devotions became common by the fifth century and processions were frequently held. These processions were called "litanies", and in them pictures and other religious emblems were carried. In Rome, pope and people would go in procession each day, especially inLent, to a different church, to celebrate the Sacred Mysteries. Thus originated the Roman "Stations", and what was called the "Litania Maior", "Major Rogation", was held on 25 April. The wordrogation comes from theLatin verbrogare, meaning "to ask", which reflects the beseeching of God for the appeasement of his anger and for protection from calamities.[4]
In 590, when anepidemic caused by an overflow of theTiber was ravaging Rome,Gregory the Great commanded a litany; on the preceding day he exhorted the people to fervent prayer, and arranged the order to be observed in the procession, during which theLitany of the Saints was prayed.[5]
The "Litania Minor", also calledMinor Rogations or "Gallicana", theRogation Days beforeAscension,[6] was introduced (477) bySt. Mamertus,Bishop of Vienne, on account of the earthquakes and other calamities then prevalent. It was prescribed for the whole ofFrankish Gaul, in 511, by theFirst Council of Orléans. For Rome it was ordered byLeo III, in 799. In theAmbrosian Rite this litany was celebrated on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday after Ascension. In Spain, a similar litany is prayed from Thursday to Saturday afterPentecost. In England the Litany ofRogation Days was known in the earliest periods. In Germany it was ordered by a Synod of Mainz in 813.
Because the Mass Litany became popular through its use in processions, numberless varieties were soon made, especially in the Middle Ages. Litanies appeared in honour of God the Father, of God the Son, of God the Holy Spirit, of the Precious Blood, of the Blessed Virgin, of the Immaculate Conception, of each of the saints honoured in different countries, for the souls in Purgatory, etc. In 1601Baronius wrote that about eighty forms were in circulation. To prevent abuse,Pope Clement VIII, by decree of 6 September 1601, forbade the publication of any litany, except that of the saints as found in theliturgical books and that ofLoreto.[1]
TheAnglican Communion also includes aLitany in the1662Book of Common Prayer. This is substantially the same asThomas Cranmer's original English vernacular service from 1544,Exhortation and Litany.[7] Cranmer drew on a variety of sources, chiefly two medieval litanies from theSarum rite, but also the German Litany of Martin Luther.[8] He originally retained the invocation of the Saints and the Blessed Virgin Mary in very shortened form, but these were omitted in 1549,[7] and he made a notable change in the style of the service by expanding and grouping together several of the separate deprecations, intercessions, obsecrations and suffrages said by the priest into groups of several, providing a single response to the whole group.[9] An anti-papal deprecation was omitted in 1559. The processional aspect was soon eliminated and the service said or sung kneeling in the church.[10] The term "Lesser Litany" is sometimes used to refer to the versicles and responses, with theLord's Prayer, that follow the Apostles' Creed at Morning Prayer (or Mattins) and Evening Prayer (or Evensong).[10]
Many other litanies are used in private prayer. AMarian litany is one dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary; only one is authorised for public recitation (mentioned above).
In theCatholic Church, seven litanies are approved for public recitation:
For all of them the 2004Enchiridion Indulgentiarum grants the partialindulgence to the faithfuls of Christ who piously pray the Litanies.[11]
Several others, including theLitany of the Blessed Sacrament, theLitany of the Passion, and theLitany of humility[12] are approved for private devotion.
Much of the historic Litany was retained by theLutheran Church.Luther hailed it as one of the greatest Christian prayers ever. When faced with the Turkish armies at the gates ofVienna in 1528/29, Luther exhorted pastors to call their Christian people to repentance and prayer. He recommended the use of the Litany during the Sunday mass or Vespers. In 1529, he, after modifying the traditionalLitany of the Saints (mostly by removing the invocation of saints and prayers for the pope), began using the Litany at Wittenberg in Latin and German.Thomas Cranmer used Luther's revised Litany as one of his main sources in the preparation of the Litany in theBook of Common Prayer. Today, a form of the Litany continues to be used in the variousLutheran Churches around the world.[13]
The MethodistThe Book of Worship for Church and Home (1965) contains the following litanies:[14]
In theEastern Orthodox andByzantineCatholic churches, a litany is referred to as anektenia. There are numerous ektenias during the Byzantine divine services: theDivine Liturgy,Vespers,Matins, the Sacraments, and numerous other services.
The petitions of the ektenias are usually chanted by adeacon (but if there is no deacon thepriest will say the petitions), to each of which thechoir (chanters) or congregation will respond. The response is usuallyKyrie eleison ("Lord, have mercy"), but other responses are used at different ektenias. After the final petition, thepriest makes theekphonesis (exclamation) which summarizes the ektenia, and always involves an invocation of theHoly Trinity.
Although used to a much lesser extent inJewish worship, litanies do appear inJewish liturgy. The most notable examples are theHoshanot recited in the additional (musaf) service during all seven days of theSukkot festival. These are mostly alphabetical acrostics to which the refrain at the end of each line is "Hoshanah"!, a contraction of the biblicalHoshi'a na (Psalm 118:25), "Save us, please!" These are recited in a procession around the sanctuary, with congregants holding thelulav andetrog (the biblical "Four Species" ofLeviticus 23:40). They are essentially prayers for rain.
Litanies are also recited during theTen Days of Repentance. The most famous of these "supplicatory" prayers isAvinu Malkeinu ("Our Father, Our King"), which is recited duringRosh Hashanah andYom Kippur liturgies. CertainSelichot prayers also take the form of a litany during the month ofElul, as do some prayers recited on fast days.
Litanies are often recited inMandaeism. The most commonly recited Mandaean litanies are theAsut Malkia andTabahatan.[15][16]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Litany".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
