Rogation Days

Rogation Days
n.
the three days before Ascension Day, formerly a time widely observed as a period of solemn ceremonial petitioning

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n [pl]
the three days before Ascension Day in the Christian church, during which people traditionally pray for a good harvest. The ceremony of beating the bounds is sometimes held at this time. The Sunday before Ascension Day is also called Rogation Sunday.

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      in the Roman Catholic church, festivals devoted to special prayers for the crops; they comprise the Major Rogation (Major Litany) on April 25 and the Minor Rogations (Minor Litany) on the three days before Ascension Day (40th day after Easter). The Major Rogation originated as a Christian festival to supplant a pagan Roman festival, Robigalia, which consisted of a procession from Rome to a point outside the city, where a dog and a sheep were sacrificed to save the crops from blight (robigo, “wheat rust”). According to a document of Pope Gregory I, the Christian festival was established as an annual event by the year 598. The Christian procession followed the same route as the pagan procession for a certain distance and then turned off and returned to St. Peter's Basilica, where mass was celebrated.

      The Minor Rogations were first introduced in Gaul by St. Mamertus of Vienne about the year 470 and were made binding for all of Gaul by the first Council of Orléans (511). Later (c. 800) the festivals were adopted in Rome by Pope Leo III (Leo III, Saint). It is possible that Mamertus first instituted the Minor Rogations to replace three days of pagan crop processions called the Ambarvalia.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • 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… …   Wikipedia

  • Rogation Days — • Days of prayer, and formerly also of fasting, instituted by the Church to appease God s anger at man s transgressions, to ask protection in calamities, and to obtain a good and bountiful harvest Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006.… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Rogation days — Rogation Ro*ga tion, n. [L. rogatio, fr. rogare, rogatum, to ask, beg, supplicate: cf. F. rogation. Cf. {Abrogate}, {Arrogant}, {Probogue}.] 1. (Rom. Antiq.) The demand, by the consuls or tribunes, of a law to be passed by the people; a proposed… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Rogation Days — n. the three days before Ascension Day, formerly a time widely observed as a period of solemn ceremonial petitioning …   English World dictionary

  • Rogation Days —    The Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before Ascension Day. They are days of abstinence preparatory to the great Feast of the Ascension. They are so called from the Latin word rogare, meaning to ask, and coming as they do in the early part of the… …   American Church Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  • rogation days — noun plural Usage: usually capitalized R&D Etymology: Middle English rogacioun dayes : the three days before Ascension Day observed by some Christians as days of special supplication * * * Rogation Days [Rogation Days] …   Useful english dictionary

  • Rogation Days —    These are the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before *Ascension Day, on which, before the Reformation, priests led processions round the fields, blessing crops and praying for good harvests. A secondary purpose was to bless the main boundary… …   A Dictionary of English folklore

  • Rogation Days —    Prescribed days of prayer dedicated to intercession for the harvest …   Who’s Who in Christianity

  • Rogation Days — plural noun (in the Western Christian Church) the three days before Ascension Day, traditionally marked by fasting and prayer …   English new terms dictionary

  • ROGATION DAYS —    the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday preceding Ascension Day, on which special litanies are sung or recited by the Roman Catholic clergy and people in public procession; has its origin in an old custom dating from the 6th century. In England the …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

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