LITANY (Gr. litaneia, a supplication), a word the specific meaning of which has varied considerably at different times, but which means in general a solemn act of sup plication addressed with the object of averting the divine anger, and especially on occa sions of public calamity. Through all the varieties of form which litanies have assumed, one characteristic has always been maintained—viz., that the prayer alternates between the priest or other minister, who announces the object of each petition, and the congre gation, who reply in a common supplicatory form, the most usual of which was the well-known "Kyrie eleison!" (Lord, have mercy!) In one procession which Mabillon describes, this prayer, alternating with " Christe eleison," was repeated 300 times; and in the capitularies of Charlemagne, it is ordered that the "Kyrie eleison" shall be sung by the men, the women answering " Christe eleison." From the 4th c. downwards, the use of litanies was general. The Antiphanary of St. Gregory the great contains several. In the Roman Catholic church three litanies are especially in use—the " litany of the saints " (which is the most ancient), the "litany of the name of Jesus," and the " litany of Our Lady of Loretto." Of these, the first alone has a place in the public service-books of the church, on the rogation-days, fn the ordination service, the service for the conse cration of churches, the consecration of cemeteries, and many other offices. Although called by the name of litany of the saints, the opening and closing petitions, and indeed the greater part of the litany, consist of prayers addressed directly to God; and the prayers to the saints are not for their help, but for their intercession on behalf of the worshipers. The litany of Jesus consists of a number of addresses to our Lord under
his various relations to rnen, in connection with the several 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 probability, to the time of St. Bernardino of Siena, in the 15th century. The litany of Loretto (see LORETTO) resembles both the above-named litanies in its opening addresses 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 addressed to the Virgin Mary under various titles, some taken from the Scriptures, some from the language of the fathers, some from the mystic writers of the medireval 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 Roman church.
In the prayer-book of the English church the litany is retained, but although it par takes of anci,ent forms, it differs from that of the Roman church, and contains no invo cation of the Virgin or the saints. It is divided into four parts--invocations, deprecations, intercessions, and supplications, in which are preserved the old form of alternate prayer and response. It is no longer a distinct service, but, when used, forms part of the morning prayer.