Le RogazioniThe Petitions

Springtimenature and love awaken!. From ancient times, there occurred the rites of spring, the seeding and the planting of the fields followed by the invocations and petitions to God to bless them, the farmers, his animals and his fields. In the Tyrol from Palm Sunday to Pentecost, there would be le Rogazioni or litanies or petitions carried out in liturgical splendor with processions, vestments, processional crosses. There were usually three days in duration. There were the Major Rogations and the Minor Rogations. Every family contributed minimally one member to participate in these processions that proceeded through their immediate territory with invocations against pestilence, storms, hail and whatever else impacted on their agriculture while at the same time there were invocations for abundant harvests. The prayers were said and sung in a choral manner alternating the petitions with responses. From pestilence deliver us, O Lord. At the conclusion of the procession and the visitation of the fields, the priest would impart a final blessingai quattro angoli della terrato the four corners of the earth. Bells were frequently run not just for the liturgical activities but also to ward off the demonic spirits.
Gianna and Lou

These rituals as so many others had their roots in pre-Christian times. St Virgilius began the evangelization in the IV Century and the transition to Christianity proceeded slowly for centuries. Bishop Virgilius had sent several missionaries to the Val di Non where they were martyred by Anauniesi farmers since they had disturbed and interrupted their spring rite of Ambarvalia. This ancient Roman rite was conducted to honor the Roman deities of Mars, and Saturn, the deity of Agriculture for the purpose of preserving their fields form harmful things and to achieve an abundant harvest. These ambarvali rites were conducted three times proceeding reciting litanies through the fields leading a sow, a sheep and a bull. These animals were then sacrificed to deities to purify themselves and bless their agriculture. Christianity simply transformed these rites into their liturgies. Just before the millennium, in the Trentino, these rites became days of fasting and expiation with penitential and propiatory processions to petition God to enhance the fertility of the fields and their animals and their homes. At the dawn of 19th century in the Trentino, crosses of stone or wood were placed on the mountain peaks, in the fields as votive offering to avoid pestilence, diseases to to their animals and the memory of calamities and natural disasters. They were also erected to mark Jubilees that were celebrated by the Church. In some areas the acolyte placed a wooden cross to mark the passage of procession. In the Bleggio, with its Pieve church, the Church of the Holy Cross, every home had a cross on their front door. Keep in mind that houses in the Tyrol combined their domiciles with their barns. After the Council of Trent, these practices were modified to control some of the abuses of the merrymaking consistent with the many ancient fertility festivities. Vatican Council II further modified the ancient practices while allowing them to go on. However, the new fertilizers and insecticides have become the real conclusion of these traditional agricultural/liturgical practices.
Alberto Folghereiter is a prolific writer who combines a profound scholarship with a passion for the Trentino, its culture, history and people in over 15 books, newspaper articles, radio and speaking engagements. His most recent book in English is Beyond the Threshold of Time - Available at Amazon. This article is drawn from La terra dei Padri Curcu & Genovese, Trento 1998.

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