(Latin: rogare, to ask)
25 April, and the three days before the Ascension, observed to appease God’s wrath, ask protection, and invoke a blessing on the harvest. They were known in England as Gang Days and Cross Week. The Litany of the Saints is chanted in the procession, and the Rogation Mass follows. The older procession of 25 April, called therefore Major Litany, Christianized a pagan procession in honor of the god Robigus. The institution of the others, adopted in Rome under Pope Leo III as Minor Litanies, is ascribed to Saint Mamertus, Archbishop of Venice who, c.475, ordered processions with special prayers because of calamities which were afflicting the country. Rogation days were dropped from the Church’s calendar in the reform of 1970, but since 1988 have been revived.