ROGATION DAYS, EMBER DAYS AND LITANIES.

"Litanies were solemn supplications instituted to implore the blessing
of Heaven on the fruits of the earth. It was customary to recite them in
the spring, that is, the season of late frosts, so much dreaded by the
cultivators of the soil.... The people marched in procession to the
spot, chanting the while that dialogue prayer which we call a litany,
elaborated, according to circumstances, into a long series of
invocations, addressed to God and to angels and saints."

"The day set apart for this purpose at Rome was the 25th April, a
traditional date, being that on which the ancient Romans celebrated the
festival of the Robigalia....

"The most ancient authority for this ceremony is a formulary for
convoking it, found in the Register of St. Gregory the Great, which must
have been used in the first instance in the year 598" (Duchesne,
_Christian Worship_, chap, viii., n. 9).

Ember days, a corruption from Latin Quatuor Tempora (four times). "The
purpose of their introduction, besides the general one intended by all
prayer and fasting, was to thank God for the gifts of nature, to teach
men to make use of them in moderation, and to assist the needy. The
immediate occasion was the practice of the heathens of Rome. The Romans
were originally given to agriculture and their native god belonged to
the same class. At the beginning of the time for seeding and harvesting
religious ceremonies were performed to implore the help of their
deities; in June for a bountiful harvest, in September for a rich
vintage, and in December for the seeding.... The Church when converting
heathen nations has always tried to sanctify any practice which could be