The prevalence of litanies in the Western Church may be recognised after the beginning of the fifth century ; and during the time of Charlemagne we find allusion to large numbers of them, to be attended to as a matter of special appointment. The Council of Orleans, A.D. 511, expressly recognises litanies as peculiarly solemn suppli- cat ions, and enjoins their use preparatory to the celebra- tion of a high festival. In tlie Spanish Church, in like manner, they were observed in the week after Pentecost. Other councils subsequently appointed them at a variety of other seasons, till, in the seventeenth Council of To- ledo, A.D. G94, it was decreed that they should be used once in each month. By degrees they were extended to two days in each week, and Wednesday and Friday, being the ancient stationary days, were set apart for the purpose. Gregory the Great instituted a service at Kome for the 25th of April, which was named Litania Septiformis, because a procession was formed in it of seven different classes. This service is distinguished as Litania Major, from its extraordinary solemnity. The Lilanice Jllinores, on the other hand, are supposed by Bingham to consist only of a repetition of Kvpif tXiijaou, the customarj' response in the larger supplica- tions. "It was a short form of supplication, used one way or other in all churches, and that as a part of all their daily offices, whence it borrowed the name of the Lesser Litany, in opposition to the greater litanies, which were distinct, complete, and solemn services, adapted to particular times or extraordinary occasions. I must note, fiu-ther, that the greater litanies are some- times termed • exomolorjeses' — confessions — because fast- ing, and weeping, and mourning, and confession of sins were usually enjoined with supplication, to avert God's wrath, and reconcile him to a sinful people." Du Cange cites a passage from the acts of the Cone. Cloveskoviense, A.D. 747, conlirmiiig tlie i<lentity oi litania and rogatio, but showhig that originally there was a distinction be- t\veeii Utauiu and ixomologcsis. Johannes de Janua terms litany, proi)erly, a service for the dead. But Du (Jange, by the authorities he cites for the early litanies, hazards the assertion that they differ but little from those in modern usage. In the AVestern litanies two features are to be foinid not jirevalent in the Eastern — the invocation of saints, and the appointment. of stated annual seasons for tlieir use, as the rogation days of the Komish, and the iri-weekly usage of the EnJ^lish Ciiurch. There is, indeed, mention made of an annual litany in commemoration of the great earthquake in the reign of Justinian. But the general and present habit of the
patriarchate of Constantinople has been and is to con- fine such services to their original purpose — extraordi- nary occasions.
Freeman {Principles of Biviii^, Service, ii, 325) insists that in its origin the litany is distinctly a '■ cucharistic feature," a series of intercessions closely associated with the eucharistic sacrifice. So we find in the East, and so it was originally in the West also, one most notable feature being the pleading of the work of Christ in be- half of his Church. In a Syriac form given by Kenau- dot, the priest, taking the paten and cup in his right and left hand, commemorates (1) the annunciation ; (2) the nativity ; (3) the baptism ; (4) the passion; (5) the lift- ing up on the cross ; (G) the life-giving death ; (7) the burial ; (8) the resurrection ; (9) the session. Then follows the remembrance of the departed, and then sup- plication for all, both living and departed, ending with three kyries and the Lord's Prayer. This extended eu- charistic intercession St. Ephraem the Syrian rendered into a very solemn hymn (comp. Ulunt, JJict. of Ductr. and Hist. TheoL p. 417).
As to the peculiar structure of litanies, which are prayers, certain features may be mentioned that distin- guish them from other prayers (the collects and the so- called common prayers), for in the litany the priest or minister does not pray alone, the people responding after each separate petition. It is even not absolutely neces- sary that the minister should lead, as the whole may be divided between two choirs; for we must also notice that the litany, occupying a medium position between prayer and singing, may be sung or spoken, according to the custom of the place where it is used. Some com- positors even — Mozart, for instance — sometimes treated it in the same manner as the usual Church chants (the Stabat Mater, Requiem, etc.) ; but in this case, by losing the distinction between petitions and responses, the lit- any entirely changed its character. In the next place, it must be noticed that in all litanies preceding the Ref- ormation there is great uniformity. They all begin alike — Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, and end alike — Ag- nus Dei, qui tollis, etc. In this respect they resemble the mass. A form of supplication somewhat resembUng a litany exists in the Apostolical Constitutions; as the deacon named the subjects of petition, the people an- swered to each. Lord, have mercy. That of the Church of England begins with an invocation of the persons of the Trinity, but uses the old invocations in its progress and close. In their origmal purpose litanies were con- nected with fasting and humiliation, and were therefore inappropriate to the festal character of the Sunday ser- vice. In this respect their usage has been changed, and they are now part of divine service not only on Sundays, but on the most joyous seasons of Christian commemo- ration, such as Easter and Christmas day. One of the last efforts, indeed, in this kind of composition is the litany of Zuizcndorf for Easter morning. The ordmary arrangement of litany material may be described as, first, the invocations, where we find the greatest difference between Eomish and Protestant litanies ; these are fol- lowed b}' the deprecations, from which this kind of ser- vice originally took its predominant character; next come intercessions for various classes and conditions of men, the whole closing with supplications for divine audience, and blessing upon the worshippers. The lit- any of the Church of Kome is that of Gregory, with subsequent additions, especially in the material of invo- cation to the body of Christ, the Blessed Virgin, and all the saints. There was an earlier form, bearing the name of Ambrose, agreeing in many respects with the Luther- an and English (see below). There was another, put in shape by Mamertius, bishop of Vienna, about the year 460, which was used by Sidonius of Arranque soon after, in connection witli an invasion of the Goths, the annual usage of which the Council of Orleans enjoined. That of (iregory, however, composed during the next centurj", became the prevailing one, or rather the typical form of others in subsequent use.