"The immense dignity conferred upon the human person...."

From David Bentley Hart's introduction to his Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies:

This book chiefly - or at least centrally - concerns the history of the early church, of roughly the first four or five centuries, and the story of how Christendom was born out of the culture of late antiquity.  My chief ambition in writing it is to call attention to the peculiar and radical nature of the new faith in that setting:  how enormous a transformation of thought, sensibility, culture, morality, and spiritual imagination Christianity constituted in the age of pagan Rome; the liberation it offered from fatalism, cosmic despair, and the terror of occult agencies; the immense dignity it conferred upon the human person; its subversion of the cruelest aspects of pagan society; its (alas, only partial) demystification of political power; its ability to create moral community where none had existed before; and its elevation of active charity above all other virtues.  Stated in its most elementary and most buoyantly positive form, my argument is, first of all, that among the many great transitions that have marked the evolution of Western civilization, whether convulsive or gradual, political or philosophical, social or scientific, material or spiritual, there has been only one - the triumph of Christianity - that can be called in the fullest sense a "revolution":  a truly massive and epochal revision of humanity's prevailing vision of reality, so pervasive in its influence and so vast in its consequences as actually to have created a new conception of the world, of history, of human nature, of time, and of the moral good.  To my mind, I should add, it was an event immeasurably more impressive in its cultural creativity and more ennobling in its moral power than any other movement of spirit, will, imagination, aspiration, or accomplishment in the history of the West.    And I am convinced that, given how radically at variance Christianity was with the culture it slowly and relentlessly displaced, its eventual victory was an event of such improbability as to strain the very limits of our understanding of historical causality.

An antiphon for Eastertide: Surrexit Dominus Vere

We've been singing this lovely fraction anthem at the Eucharist during Eastertide; it's S167 in the 1982 Hymnal.  The setting cited there is "Mode 6 melody, adapt. Mason Martens (b. 1933)."   The parts in italics below are congregational; the other lines are sung by a soloist in the choir.

The disciples knew the Lord Jesus in the breaking of the bread.
The bread which we break, alleluia, is the communion of the body of Christ.
The disciples knew the Lord Jesus in the breaking of the bread.
One body are we, alleluia, for though many we share one bread.
The disciples knew the Lord Jesus in the breaking of the bread.

I searched for audio or video of this online, but to no avail.  Then, I happened to stumble upon the Easter antiphon Surrexit Dominus Vere - I can't remember how or why - and lo and behold:  this is the very same melody sung by the soloists in the fraction anthem above. (The congregational response is very beautiful, but not part of this antiphon, apparently.)  Here Giovanni Vianini sings it:



Fisheaters mentions the original verse/response on their Easter page:

On this, the holiest day of the entire year, and for the entire Octave of Easter, Latin Catholics greet each other with the words of Luke 24:34, "Surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia!" ("The Lord is risen indeed!"). The person so greeted responds, "Et apparuit Simoni, alleluia!" ("And hath appeared unto Simon!"). Catholics may even answer their telephones with this greeting. An old Ukrainian legend relates that, after His Resurrection, Christ threw Satan into a deep pit, chaining him with twelve iron chains. When Satan has chewed through each of the twelve chains, the end of the world will come. All year long, the Evil One gnaws at the iron, getting to the last link in the last chain -- but too late, for it is Easter, and when the people cry "Christ is risen!" all of Satan's efforts are reversed. When the faithful stop saying the Easter acclamation, the end of time has come...

Searching on "Et apparuit Simoni" brought up this page at Cantus database - and the numerous links to the phrase in various manuscripts, including a few images.  The Verse/Response was used at many different offices throughout at least the Octave of Easter - although DivinumOfficium has it used mainly, as far as I can tell, as the Verse/Response before the first reading at Matins in early Eastertide.  (Searching just "Surrexit Dominus vere" brings up lots of citations - this one, for example - but we're interested in including the "Simoni" ("Simon") language, since that does seem to be part of this antiphon in particular.   The reference for all of these is from Luke, and "Surrexit Dominus vere," with or without "Simoni," is used frequently throughout Eastertide, as you can imagine.)

For instance, this is from the Antiphonarium Massiliense 1201-1300 (a book from Marseille, France):

And this is from Fribourg/Freiburg, Couvent des Cordeliers/Franziskanerkloster: (an "Antiphonary for Franciscan use")

Here, the Schola Cantorum de Regina Pacis (Klaipeda, Lithuania) sings it:

Surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia, alleluia. Et apparuit Simoni, alleluia, alleluia. Glória Patri, et Fíllio, et Spirítui Sancto.

Viešpats tikrai prisikėlė, aleliuja, aleliuja. Ir pasirodė Simonui, aleliuja, aleliuja. Garbė Dievui Tėvui, ir Sūnui, ir Šventajai Dvasiai.

FIlmuota 2010 m. balandžio 25 d. Klaipėdos šv. Kazimiero bažnyčioje.

Schola Cantorum de Regina Pacis choir is based in the church of St. Mary, Queen of Peace (Klaipeda, Lithuania)

More info: www.regina-pacis.org

It seems several composers have set the text; here are the words from Jacquet de Bechem's setting.  He includes the text from the Gradual for Easter Day, Haec dies:

Alleluia. Quia surrexit Dominus vere,
et apparuit Simoni, alleluia.
Exultemus et laetemur
dies ista laetitiae.
Haec dies, quam fecit Dominus
Exultemus et laetemur in ea.
Alleluia.

Alleluia. The Lord has truly risen
and appeared to Simon, alleluia.
Let us rejoice on this day of joy,
which the Lord has made;
let us rejoice in it.

And there's a Taize Surrexit dominus vere, also:

The 2nd Alleluia for Ascension Day: Dominus in Sina

Here's a video of this chant, sung by the Congregation of St. Lazarus Autun:



The text comes from Psalm (67/)68, vv (18-19/)17-18; here's CCWatershed's translation of the proper itself:

The Lord is in Sinai, in the holy place; ascending on high, he has led captivity captive.

Here's the full chant score:

Psalm 68 is a long - and obscure! - Psalm; here are the first 19 verses, for a little bit of context:

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.

1 God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered;
and those who hate him shall flee before him!
2 As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;
as wax melts before fire,
so the wicked shall perish before God!
3 But the righteous shall be glad;
they shall exult before God;
they shall be jubilant with joy!

4 Sing to God, sing praises to his name;
lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts;
his name is the Lord;
exult before him!
5 Father of the fatherless and protector of widows
is God in his holy habitation.
6 God settles the solitary in a home;
he leads out the prisoners to prosperity,
but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

7 O God, when you went out before your people,
when you marched through the wilderness, Selah
8 the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain,
before God, the One of Sinai,
before God, the God of Israel.
9 Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad;
you restored your inheritance as it languished;
10 your flock found a dwelling in it;
in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.

11 The Lord gives the word;
the women who announce the news are a great host:
12 “The kings of the armies—they flee, they flee!”
The women at home divide the spoil—
13 though you men lie among the sheepfolds—
the wings of a dove covered with silver,
its pinions with shimmering gold.
14 When the Almighty scatters kings there,
let snow fall on Zalmon.

15 O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan;
O many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan!
16 Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain,
at the mount that God desired for his abode,
yes, where the Lord will dwell forever?
17 The chariots of God are twice ten thousand,
thousands upon thousands;
the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.
18 You ascended on high,
leading a host of captives in your train
and receiving gifts among men,
even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there.

Paul cites these verses Psalm in Ephesians 4:8, in what to my eyes appears to be a very complex - and again, obscure! - rabbinic argument.   Here are the first 16 verses of that chapter:

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism,  one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.  But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.  Therefore it says,

“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
    and he gave gifts to men.”

(In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?  He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)  And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,  until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,  so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.  Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

The Brazilian Benedictines offer mp3s of all the mass propers on the day:

In Ascensione Domini
DominicaIntroitus: Act. 1, 11; Ps. 46 Viri Galilæi (2m48.4s - 2635 kb) score here

Alleluia: Ps. 46, 6 Ascendit Deus (1m50.2s - 1725 kb) score here

Alleluia: Ps. 67, 18.19 Dominus in Sina (2m33.9s - 2409 kb) score here

Offertorium: Ps. 46, 6 Ascendit Deus (1m33.8s - 1469 kb MONO due to problems with my recording set) score here

Communio:
(anno A)Mt. 28, 18.19 Data est mihi (1m21.9s - 1283 kb) score here
(anno B)Mc. 16, 17.18 Signa (1m05.5s - 1027 kb)
(anno C)  Ps. 67, 33.34 Psallite Domino (59.0s - 925 kb MONO due to problems with my recording set) score here

You can read other posts about the day's propers on Chantblog as well:

• The Sarum Ascension Office
• Ascension Day Music for the Mass  (The Introit at the Mass)
• Ascension: Ascendit Deus (The 1st Alleluia and Offertory at the Mass) 

And don't forget to read Full Homely Divinity's article on Ascension!

This is Andrei Rublev's lovely Ascension, from around 1408; it's now in the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.

The Gallery's website has some interesting things to say about this icon:

From the Prazdnichny Chin (row) which was located above the Deisus and which illustrated events from the Gospel, only five icons have been preserved. Three of them are in the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery and two icons from this row – the “Baptism” and the “Feast of the Purification” – are in the collection of the State Russian Museum in St Petersburg. Most researchers are inclined to view these icons as works coming from the atelier of Andrei Rublev and Daniil. The best done is thought to be the icon of the “Ascension” and many researchers attribute it to Andrei Rublev himself. The icon of the «Ascension» differs from all the other multi-figure icons in the Prazdnichny Chin in the way it possesses a special rhythmic organisation of the composition. Here there appeared the feeling of harmony and plastic balance characteristic of Andrei Rublev. The iconography of the «Ascension» was formed in Byzantine art on the basis of texts from the Gospel According to Mark (XVI, 15–20) and the Gospel According to Luke (XXIV, 42–52), as well as on the Acts of the Apostles (1, 4–12), which tell of the ascension of Christ to heaven after his resurrection from the dead on the fortieth day. This miracle occurred on the Eleon Hill before the disciples when they saw the ascending Christ. Before the apostles there were «two men in white garments» –angels who spoke of the second coming of the Teacher to Earth. The icons come from the Prazdnichny Chin of the iconostasis of the Church of the Assumption in the city of Vladimir. During the period 1768–1775, the dilapidated iconostasis dating from 1408 no longer corresponded to the tastes of the age of Catherine the Great and was taken out of the church and sold to the village of Vasilievskoye, near Shui (present-day Ivanovskaya Oblast). During 1918–1920s, the icons were removed by an expedition of the Central State Restoration Workshops.

Chanted monastic offices, live for desktop or iPhone

Here's something pretty interesting, from the Abbaye Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux:

Listen to our offices live

“There is only one problem in the whole world: restoring spiritual sense in people. Showering on them something like a Gregorian chant.”

- Saint-Exupéry

The monks of Le Barroux invite you to follow live the liturgical offices, entirely sung in Gregorian in the extraordinary form of the Roman Catholic rite. This initiative is supported by Mgr Jean-Pierre Cattenoz, the archbishop of Avignon.

Four times a day, on your iPhone with the Barroux application, or on your computer, you will be able to connect to the great liturgical prayer of the Church.

The offices broadcast live are :

Prime: 7:45 or 8:00 (see the time-table)
Sext: 12:15 every day.
Vespers: 17:30 every day.
Compline: 19:45 every day.

They offer some help with office materials, too:

Books to follow the offices — Two choices are available :

Latin/French booklets containing the main part of the offices: psalms, antiphons and hymns of various liturgical periods : see the selection.

Monastic ‘Diurnal’ containing all of the day’s Benedictine office, in Latin/French (from Lauds with Compline), according to the monastic breviary of 1963, with all the festivals of Temporal and the Sanctoral : see the diurnal.

I had some problems getting the files to play on my PC from that site, and I don't have an iPhone - but there is another site, barrouxchant.com, that seems to post all four daily files for listening at any time during the day.  (Obviously, time zone differences have to be taken into account).

Here's the blurb from the barrouxchant.com site:

The monks of the Abbaye Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux stream their chanted Office each day as explained on their website. For those of us who do not live in European time zones, this project attempts to automatically record their hours and make them available for download.

You can also subscribe to the hours as a podcast or on iTunes.

These are automatically generated, so there may be some errors. If you find any (or if you have any other comments), please let me know!

I did have some problems playing a couple of the files from that page; perhaps they'll work out the kinks eventually.  (The podcast seems to work well, though; I just listened to Vespers in its entirety, without a problem.  The feed is run through Feedburner and points to files on archive.org.)  There are links at barrouxchant.com to the office texts at DivinumOfficium.com; the texts are side-by-side in Latin and English, so it's very easy to follow along. (You can always go to DivinumOfficium.com directly and find these texts, anyway!  Use the arrows at the top of the page to get the right date, and choose the office itself in the links at bottom; the BarrouxChant seems to point generally to "Pre-Tritdent Monastic.")

So, interesting things are happening!   As far as I can tell, this is a new monastery; the history given at the site begins in 1970, and starts this way:

August 24th, 1970: A Benedictine monk arrives on a moped, with a few belongings, at the Chapel of St. Mary Magdalen in the Vaucluse region of south-east France. What is he doing here ? At a time of turbulent change, he intends simply to continue his monastic life with his Abbot’s permission and to live according to the tradition of prayer, silence, manual work, the divine office in latin and the traditional liturgy. What will the future hold ? “That’s God’s business !”, replies Dom Gérard.

Here's a picture of the place; image by "Jean-Marc Rosier from http://www.rosier.pro."

A Rogation Days processional hymn: Ardua spes mundi (Ratpert († c.890))

Described at the YouTube page as a versus ad processionem in diebus dominicis ("hymn for Sunday processions"), Ardua spes mundi was apparently sung at Rogation Day processions, according to David Hiley's Western Plainchant. (The Rogation Days are the three weekdays prior to Ascension Day; we're in the middle of them now.)

Here is a recording of the hymn, sung by "Ensemble Gilles Binchois
Dominique Vellard, direction, en collaboration avec Wulf Arlt":



In a section on "Processional Hymns" (note that "versus" is another word for "hymn"), Hiley says:

Ratpert's Ardua spes mundi may serve as an example of the St. Gall versus....In the Rouen Cathedral manuscript (Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, lat. 904, thirteenth century), from which [the illustration] is transcribed, both Ardua spes and Humili prece are sung in the procession before Mass on the Rogation Days leading up to Ascension Day (the weekdays following the fifth Sunday after Easter). In both chants, verses in honor of Rouen saints are added to those already present; Ardua spes invokes Romanus and Audoenus.  The same melody is used for the refrain and the strophes (some other processional hymns have two different melodies).

Other examples of "processional hymns" cited by Hiley are the more well-known Pange lingua and Crux fideles.  "Ratpert," who wrote this text, was a monk of St. Gall and a composer of liturgical poetry; according to BrillOnline, Ratpert:

(after 850 – before 912), was educated at Saint Gall Abbey and lived there as monk and teacher until his death. In the Middle Ages he was known as the author of liturgical poems in Latin, especially an All Saints Day litany. His Old High German Galluslied now survives only in the Latin retro-translation by Ekkehard IV. His Casus sancti Galli form the prelude to the Saint Gall house chronicle that was continued up to the 13th century.

These, I believe, are all the Latin words to Ardua spes mundi; they were incredibly hard to find!  Spes mundi is "hope of the world" - and Google Translate says that Ardua spes mundi translates as "towering hope of the world."  No English translation yet; working on it.

Ardua spes mundi solidator & incliti Coeli; Christe exaudi nos propitius samulos. Ardua spes mundi.

Virgo Dei genitrix rutilans in honore perennis Ora pro famulis sancta Maria tuis. Ardua spes mundi.

Angele summe Dei Michahel míserescito nostri Adiuvet & Gabrihel atque pius Raphahel. Ardua.

Aspice nos omnes clemens baptista lohannes. Petreque cum Paulo nos rege doctiloquo. Ardua.

Coetus apostolicus sit nobis sautor & omnis Ac parriarcharum propheticusque corus. Ardua.

Poscere nunc Stephanum studeamus carmine summunt

   Ut cum martyribus nos iuvet ipse pius. Ardua.

lnclyte Laurenti qui fiammas exuperasti

   Victor ab etherio nos miserere choro. Ardua.

Care Deo martyr patriae decus huius herile.

   Sancte Albane tuis esto savens meriris. Ardua.

Victor, Alexander meritis utrique beati

  Nobis orate de Domino veniam. Ardua.

Splendide Silvester Gregorie sancte magister.

  Nos quoque cum sociis serte iuvando polis. Ard.

O Martine De¡ conseil'or summe sacerdos

  Gemma sacerdotum auxilium ser ymon. Ardua.

O Benedicte Parer monachorum Galleque frater

  Cum reliquís Sanctis nos refovete polis. Ardua.

Maximo de Francis superis coniuncte catervis

  Sancte Othmare tuum laetifica populum. Ard.

lnclite Magne tuam clemens nunc inspice plebem

   Pontifices fidos ac reliquos famulos. Ardua.

Virgineos flores Agnes Agathesque ferentes

   Auxilio vestris addite nos soclis. Ardua.

His Waldburga comes nostras pia suscipe voces

  Nos & cum Dno protege sancta polo. Ardua.

Innocuos pueros resonemus laude peraclos

  Qui modo nos pueros dant resonare melos. Ard.

Omnes o sancti nostra succurrite vita!

Perque crucem sanctam salva nos Xpe redemror.  Omnes.

lra deque tua clemens nos eripe Christe. Omnes.

Nos peccatores audi te Christe rogamus. Omnes.

Ut pacem nobis dones te Christe rogamus. Omnes.

Crimen ut omne tuis solvas te Xpe rogamus. Oms.

Aurae ut temperiem dones te Xpe rogamus. Oms.

Ut fruges terrae dones te Xpe rogamus. Omnes.

Ut populum cunctum salves te Xpe rogamus. Oms.

Ecclesiamque tuam firmes te Xpe rogamus. Oms.

Fili celsithroni nos audi Christe rogamus. Omnes.

Agne Dei Patris nobis miserere pusillis. Omnes.

Christe exaudi nos o Kyrie ymon eleyson. Omnes.

The image in the YouTube video is from the St. Gall manuscript; below  are screenshots from that same manuscript of all four pages of this hymn.

"Happy World Organ Day"

Today at the Chant Café:

Today, hundreds of concerts will take place around the world to celebrate the 850th anniversary of the founding of the Paris Cathedral. This one in Boston is among them.

Rogation Days

Here's Full Homely Divinity on these three pre-Ascension days.  We had a bit of a "Rogation Sunday" today (as suggested below):  special vestments were hung and worn; special collects read; holy water sprinkled round about the grounds; kids planted flowers and trees.

Beating the bounds in Victorian London

The Rogation Days, the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension Day, originated in Vienne, France (not Vienna, Austria), in 470 after a series of natural disasters had caused much suffering among the people. Archbishop Mamertus proclaimed a fast and ordered that special litanies and prayers be said as the population processed around their fields, asking God's protection and blessing on the crops that were just beginning to sprout. The Latin word rogare means "to ask", thus these were "rogation" processions. In an agricultural society, closely connected with the soil and highly vulnerable to the uncertainties of nature, this was an idea that took root quickly, and the custom spread around Europe and over to Britain. The Sunday before the Rogation Days came to be considered a part of Rogationtide (or "Rogantide") and was known as Rogation Sunday. The Gospel formerly appointed for that day was from John 16, where Jesus tells his disciples to ask, and ye shall receive.

Beating the bounds in Lambeth, 1961

While technically they were days of fasting, for which they were also known as "Grass Days," for the meatless meals that were enjoined, the Rogation Days developed into a popular festival, celebrating the arrival of spring and serving other purposes, as well. Other names for these days include "Gang Days," from the Anglo-Saxon gangen, "to go," and "Cross Days," both titles signifying the processions with crosses and banners around the countryside. In some parishes, the procession took more than one day and the whole business became an occasion for several days of picnics and revels of all sorts, particularly among those who trooped along at the fringes of the religious aspects of the procession.

Beating the bounds in Claverton, 1999

The route of the walk was around the boundaries of the parish, which was a civil as well as a religious unit. Thus, the processions were useful in teaching people, particularly the young, their parish boundaries. Known as "beating the bounds," the processions customarily stopped at boundary marks and other significant landmarks of the parish, such as a venerable tree, or a great rock, or perhaps a pond. The priest would read the Gospel and perhaps affix a cross to the landmark. Then the boys of the parish would suffer some indignity intended 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.

The reminder of boundaries had another important impact on communal life. In a poem by the 20th century American Robert Frost, the poet's neighbor asserts that "good fences make good neighbors." Boundaries are often very important in relationships. As members of parishes beat the bounds, they would often encounter obstructions and violations of boundaries. The annual beating of the bounds provided an opportunity to resolve boundary issues. It also led to the tradition of seeking reconciliation in personal relationships during Rogationtide. The sharing of a specially brewed ale, called Ganging Beer, and a mysterious pastry, called Rammalation Biscuits, at the end of the walk was a good way of sealing the reconciliation.

George Herbert gave the following good reasons to beat the bounds: 1) a blessing of God for the fruits of the field; 2) Justice in the preservation of the bounds; 3) Charitie, in living, walking and neighbourliy accompanying one another, with reconciling of differences at that time, if they be any; 4) Mercie, in relieving the poor by a liberal distribution of largess which at that time is or oght be made.

The custom of placing crosses on boundary markers and in the fields seems to derive from the fact that the Rogation Days fall near the old feast day of the Invention (or Finding) of the Cross. Crouchmas ("Cross-mass") was on May 3rd and it was the custom on that day to place crosses in fields and gardens as a way of blessing them and praying for them to be fruitful. While full Rogation processions are rare today, the blessing of crosses to be planted in the fields of the faithful is one of the ways the older customs survive.

Keeping the Rogation Days Today

Much of modern society has lost its direct connection with the soil, but this psychological distance does not lessen the actual dependence of all people on the gifts of nature. Furthermore, responsible stewardship of all of these gifts is increasingly being recognized as the concern of all people. Days of thanksgiving, harvest festivals, and the like are observed in many churches at the end of the growing season. The Rogation Days at the time of planting have become little more than a liturgical footnote in the American Prayer Book, but in these times of growing ecological concern the Church would do well to revive them.

Practically speaking, the revival of Rogation observances is likely to involve more people if they are part of a Sunday service. It should be added that, while the Sixth Sunday of Easter is the traditional day, some adaptation to the local season and climate would be appropriate. After all, there is little point in blessing fields and seeds for planting at the time when crops are being harvested in the southern hemisphere. Similarly, there will be many places where farms and rural countryside will not be the locale of processions and blessings. But even in urban churches there should be an awareness of our dependence upon the fruits and resources of the earth, of the ways in which resources are wasted, of the dangers of pollution, and of our responsibility for honest labor and industry.

A Rogation observance in church, then, can be the opportunity for a homily on the Christian stewardship of natural resources. Various symbols can be introduced into the liturgy to reinforce this theme. A procession around the whole parish might not be a possibility, but a procession around the church grounds, a local park, or a parishioner's farm would be appropriate. Parishioners can bring their own garden seeds to be blessed and crosses can be blessed for parishioners to take home and plant in their fields or gardens. Making the crosses would be a good project for the children of the church school or individual families. If the children made Easter gardens, the plants in them can be transplanted to either the parish garden or their family gardens at home, adapting some of the prayers below. Even though the Sunday readings no longer keep the Rogation theme, the hymns can. Hymns and canticles that fit the Rogation theme include, "O Jesus crowned with all renown", "Fairest Lord Jesus", "We plow the fields and scatter", "Now the green blade rises", "O worship the King", Benedicite, omnia opera, and Psalm 65.

Here are some elements and prayers for a Rogationtide expansion of the Eucharistic liturgy on Rogation Sunday or any day designated for the observance of Rogation themes:

At the Offertory

Expand upon the usual Offertory of the Eucharist. Seven elements might be presented by members of the congregation and placed upon the Altar:

money - the regular tithes and offerings;
bread - preferably a home-baked loaf (click here for some recipes);
wine - perhaps a bottle of table wine, rather than the usual Eucharistic wine;
soil - a wooden or earthenware bowl of soil;
water - in a clear vessel so that it may be seen;
seed - a bowl of seed, or a basket of various packaged seeds (notice might be
given beforehand for people to bring their own garden seed to be blessed
either at the Eucharist or at the procession afterwards);
crosses - a basket of small wooden or paper crosses.

When the elements are brought forward, or after they have been presented, sing this hymn to the tune Lancashire ("Lead on, O King eternal"):

We pray thee, therefore, Father, to take these gifts of ours
Ourselves, our lives, our labors, our thoughts, our words, our powers;
Though they all be unworthy to place upon Thy board
We know Thou wilt accept them through Jesus Christ our Lord.

As each element is received, an appropriate prayer is said:

At the presentation of money:
Accept, O Lord, our gifts of money, which represent the business of our daily lives:  Use them for the work of your Holy Church to carry out your mission; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

At the presentation of bread:
Almighty God our Savior, who in the carpenter's shop at Nazareth labored for daily bread: Accept this bread which is both the fruit of our work and the satisfaction of our needs, and so bless all our industry and necessity; for your sake. Amen.

At the presentation of wine:
We offer you, O Lord, this wine, the fruit of the vine: We pray that you will accept it, that it may become for us the Blood of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

At the presentation of soil:
Almighty Creator, we offer to you this soil in token of the fields and forests of our land on which we ask your blessing: We ask that the soil may be wholesome, the crops good, and that we may be faithful stewards of your mercies; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


At the presentation of water:
O God, who brought forth life out of the waters of creation: Bless this offering of water and grant that there may be sufficient water to raise up good crops and to serve the needs of our industries; and may we drink of the Living Water to bring forth the fruit of godly living from the soil of our souls; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

At the presentation of seeds:
O Heavenly Father, who by your wondrous providence made all grass, herbs, and trees, each with seed after its own kind: Accept and bless our offering of seed to be planted throughout our parish, that the life in all seed sown may burst forth into fullness of its kind, according to your good creation, and especially the seed of your Word; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

At the presentation of crosses:
O God, whose blessed Son has promised that we need only to ask in order to receive: Accept and bless these crosses, and grant that in the fields where we place them they may stand as a sign of our unfailing trust in your bounty and as encouragement to all who see them to put their faith in your providence; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Rogation procession in Bedford, 1952

There's more at the link.

We sang some of the hymns suggested above, including "O Jesus crowned with all renown" - the one and only "Rogation Days" hymn in the 1982 hymnal.  And, a favorite of mine,  the beautiful "Fairest Lord Jesus"; it's sung in the video below by the children of Truro Cathedral.  (You can hear both of  these hymns on the May 5, 2013 service of Compline podcast from St. Mark's Seattle.  Obviously, they were celebrating Rogation Days, too!)