Rogation Days are set aside to remind us how radically dependent we are on God through His creation, and how prayer can help protect us.
There are four Rogation Days:
- Major Rogation on April 25th every year.
- Minor Rogations or 'Rogationtide' always on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday immediately before Ascension Thursday, or May 6-8 in 2024.
Rogation Days are now-little known days of penance.
It’s an unlikely time for extra days of penance, as it’s during Eastertide, and though often referred to as fasting days, during the Easter season, they would be observed as days of abstinence from meat, but not days of fasting.
"Rogation" comes from the Latin "rogare," which means "to ask." The primary purpose of the Rogation Days is to ask God to bless the fields and the parish (the geographic area) that they fall in, particularly with regard to farming, gardening, and other agricultural pursuits.
In the past, the Rogation Days were marked by the recitation of the Litany of the Saints, which would normally begin in or at a church. After Saint Mary was invoked, the congregation would proceed to walk the boundaries of the parish, while reciting the rest of the litany. The entire parish would be blessed, and the boundaries of the parish would be marked. The procession would end with a Rogation Mass, in which all in the parish were expected to take part.
Rogation Days were removed from the liturgical calendar when it was revised in 1969, but they are still good ways to keep us in touch with nature.
While many of our parishes may not celebrate the Rogation Days, there are ways we can still celebrate them.
- abstain from meat
- attend daily Mass
- recite the Litany of the Saints
- walk the boundaries of our parish, or a portion of them
- pray for farmers and the spring planting season
Click the link below to print the Prayers for the Rogation Days.
Always, in Christ's love. -Beth
