Rogation Days

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we commemorate the Rogation Days, traditional days of prayer, and formerly fasting, which take place every year on April 25th and the three days preceding the feast of the Ascension, the former being known as the Major Rogation and the latter as the Minor Rogations. The word “rogation” has its origins in the Latin word “rogare”, which means to supplicate or ask, and the purpose of the Days is to beg God for His mercy, to turn away His anger, and to ask Him to bless the fruits of the earth while protecting us from natural disasters.

All the Rogation Days consist of a procession followed by a Rogation Mass. The procession, which traditionally moved around the territorial borders of the parish, includes the blessing of the fields and other natural features of the landscape during the recitation of the Litany of the Saints.

Et ego dico vobis: Pétite, et dábitur vobis: quaérite, et inveniétis: pulsáte, et aperiétur vobis. Omnis enim qui petit, áccipit: et qui quærit, invénit: et pulsánti aperiétur.

And I say to you: Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

– Luke 11:9-10, from the Gospel for the Rogation Mass

Major Rogation at the Seminary of St. Peter in Wigratzbad, Germany

 

Major Rogation at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Denton, where the dawn procession is greeted by the morning sun rising upon a clear day.