The Greater Litanies

One of the more intriguing liturgies of the Church, the Greater Litanies or Processions, falls on April 25th (also the feast of St. Mark). The Greater Litanies, so called to distinguish them from the Minor Litanies - processions of lesser importance - which fall right before the Ascension, refer to a day set aside to make amends for offenses against our Good God in the form of spiritual acts of reparation, the chief being the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass preceded by a procession of supplication. During the procession, the Litany of the Saints was sung along with other prayers imploring God's mercy and blessing. Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B, the great liturgical reformer of the 19th century, tells us that the custom of celebrating the Greater Litanies was already ancient by the time of Pope St. Gregory the Great.

Dom Prosper gives us the spiritual intentions underlying this liturgical tradition:

"After all, we are sinners, with much to regret and much to fear; we have to avert those scourges which are due to the crimes of mankind; we have, by humbling ourselves and invoking the intercession of the Mother of God and the Saints, to obtain the health of our bodies, and the preservation of the fruits of the earth; we have to offer atonement to divine justice for our own and the world's pride, sinful indulgences, and insubordination. Let us enter into ourselves, and humbly confess that our own share in exciting God's indignation is great; and our poor prayers, united with those of our holy Mother the Church, will obtain mercy for the guilty, and for ourselves who are of the number."

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Image from NLM

Although this liturgy has not enjoyed widespread celebration for many years, it is spiritually fruitful to reflect on this liturgy and to unite ourselves in spirit to the intention of the Church in calling the minds and hearts of the faithful to the offenses against our Lord.