Rogation Sunday at St. Andrew's

What's Rogation Sunday?

The tradition of celebrating Rogation Days originated in Vienne, France, in 470 A.D., after there were several natural disasters in a row which caused a lot of suffering. The Archbishop proclaimed days of fast and ordered special litanies and prayers asking for God's blessing of the crops as the people processed around their fields.

The word "Rogation" comes from the Latin verb rogare, meaning "to ask".

Rogation days are the three days (Rogation Monday, Rogation Tuesday and Rogation Wednesday) immediately before Ascension Thursday in the Christian liturgical calendar. In recent history, we've celebrated Rogation Sunday on the day immediately before Rogation Days.

Rogation days in former times included the ceremony of 'beating the bounds', where a parade of parishioners, led by the priest, churchwarden, and choirboys, would process around the entire boundary of their parish, stop at significant landmarks, sometimes bless a cross and pray for protection in the upcoming year.

At each stop, the boys of the parish would be beaten to help them remember the spot. Boys were bumped about against rocks and trees, thrown into the water, held upside-down over fences, thrown into bramble patches, or beaten with willow wands--and then given a treat in compensation. In later times, the marchers beat the boundary marker with the willow wands, beating the bounds, rather than the boys.

This information came from Full Homely Divinity, Resources for Anglican Parish Life, Published by the Consortium of Country Churches