Rogation Days (redirected from Rogation Day)

Rogation Days, in the calendar of the Western Church, four days traditionally set apart for solemn processions to invoke God's mercy. They are Apr. 25, the Major Rogation, coinciding with St. Mark's Day; and the three days preceding Ascension Day, the Minor Rogations. The processions are Christian adaptations of Roman pagan ones; in rural districts they are regarded as blessing the fields. The prayers include the Litany of the Saints (see litany). Such liturgical usages are no longer prescribed in the universal Roman Catholic liturgical calendar; observance is left to the discretion of the national councils of bishops.

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Rogation Days

Between April 30 and June 3; Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday preceding Ascension Day

Since medieval times, the three days before Ascension Day (called Holy Thursday in Great Britain) have been known as Rogation Days (from rogare, "to pray"). Both the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches set them aside as days of abstinence and prayer, especially for the harvest.
In many churches in the United States Rogation Sunday, the fifth Sunday after Easter, has been known as Rural Life Sunday or Soil Stewardship Sunday since 1929—a day when the religious aspects of agricultural life are emphasized. It is also known as Cantate Sunday because the Latin Mass for this day begins with the first words of Psalm 98, Cantate Domino, "Sing to the Lord."
The Rogation Days also had a secular meaning at one time in England, where they were called Gang Days or Gange Days —from the Saxon word gangen, meaning "to go." There was a custom of walking the parish boundaries during the three days before Holy Thursday (Ascension Day), the procession consisting of the priests and prelates of the church and a select number of men from the parish. Later, these Rogation Days were set aside for special local celebrations. In 19th-century Dorsetshire, for example, a local festival called the Bezant was held each year on Rogation Monday.

SOURCES:
AmerBkDays-2000, p. 339
BkDays-1864, vol. I, p. 582
DaysCustFaith-1957, p. 135
DictDays-1988, pp. 19, 46, 96
EncyEaster-2002, p. 532
FestSaintDays-1915, p. 99
FolkWrldHol-1999, p. 336
OxYear-1999, p. 628
RelHolCal-2004, p. 95
SaintFestCh-1904, p. 227