LITAKY
io'i
LITERS FORMATS
The three different forms now in use in the Eomish churches are called the '-litany of the saints" (which is the most ancient), the "litany of tlie name of Jesus," and the " litany of Our Lady of Loretto." Of these the first alone has a place in tlie public service-books of the Church, on the rogation days, in the ordination service, the service for the consecration of churches, the conse- cration of cemeteries, and many other offices. The one called by the name of litaiiij of the saints bears its name from the praj-ers it contains to the saints for their help and intercession in behalf of the worshipjDers. Almost every saint in the calendar of the Romish Church has his particular form in the litany. Tlie people's response in the prayer is Orn pi-o nobis, " Pray for us." Tlie litany of Jesus consists of a number of addresses to Christ under liis various relations to men, in connection with the sev- eral details of his passion, and of adjurations of him through the memory of what he has done and suffered for the salvation of mankind. The date of this form of prayer is uncertain, but it is referred, with much proba- bility, to the time of St. Bernardino of Siena, in the 15th century. The litanT/ of Loretto [see Loretto] resem- bles both the above-named litanies in its opening ad- dresses to the Holy Trinity and in its closing petitions to the " Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world;" but the main body of the petitions are address- ed to the Virgin Mary under various titles, some taken from the Scriptures, some from the language of the fathers, some from the mystical writers of the mediasval Church. Neither this litany nor that of Jesus has ever formed part of any of the ritual or liturgical offices of the Catholic Church, but there can be no doubt that both have in various ways received the sanction of the highest authorities of the Romish Church. Tliose of the Lutheran and English churches, which are very much alike, are derived from the same source, being shorter in that these invocations are expunged.
In the Church of England it was originally a distinct service, and seems to have been used at a different time of day from the ordinary morning service, and only on certain occasions. In 1544 it was given to the people in a revised form by Henry VIII. Upon its insertion in the Prayer-book published by Edward VI, A.D. 1549, the litany was placed between the communion office and the office of baptism, under the title " The Litany and Suffrages," without any rubric for its use ; but at the end of the communion office occurred the follow- ing rubric : " Upon Wednesdays and Fridays the Eng- lish litany shall be said or sung in aU places, after such form as is appointed by his majesty's injunc- tions, or as it shall be otherwise appointed by his high- ness." In the revision of the Common Prayer in 1552, the litany was placed where it now stands, and the ru- bric was added to "be used on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and at other times when it shall be com- manded by the ordinary." So late as the last revision in 1661, the litany continued a distinct service by itself, used sometimes after the morning prayer (then read at a very early hour) was concluded, the people returning home between them. The rubric which inserts the lit- any after the third collect in morning prayer is formed from a similar rubric in the Scotch Common Prayer- bool; with this difference, that the English rubric en- joins the omission of certain of the ordinary interces- sional prayers; the Scotch rubric, on the other hand, states expressly, " without the omission of any part of the other daily service of the Church on those days."
The litany of the German and Danish Lutherans closely resembles that of the Church of England and that of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America, and needs, therefore, no special mention here. The processional feature is still retained in the Greek and Roman litanies on special occasions, but is not their special accompaniment. Efforts towards its restoration in the English and American Episcopal Church have for the past ten years been in progress. Judging from the prevalent sentiment of the episcopate in both coun-
tries, and the tone of the last General Convention in this, the prospects of success are not very favorable. See Procter, Book of Common Prayer, p. 246 sq. ; Palmer, Ori(/ines Liturgiccr, i, 264 sq.; Wheatly, Common Prayer, p. 163 sq.; Dean Stanley in Good Words for 1868 (June) ; Co\(ixasm, Manual of Prelacy and Ritualism, p. 392 sq. ; Ch ristiun A ntiq. p. 66 1 ; Blunt, Did. Doct. and Hist. Theol. S.V.; iL&die, Ecclesiastical Dictionary, s. v.; Walcott, »S'a- cred A rchcEolor/y, p. 353. See Liturgy.
Literae Encyclicae, a term used in the Roman Catholic Church to denote letters addressed by the pope to the whole Church, but primarily to the clergy at large, as representatives of the Church. They are to be distinguished from apostolical briefs and buUs as never being applicable to local or individual cases only. They relate to some general need or tendency of a mor- al or doctrinal kind within the Church, or to any sup- posed dangers from without, and contain the pope's views on the matters alluded to, with exhortations to co-operation on the part of the clergy and the Church at large in the course of conduct advised. See E^'cvc-