May 10, 2026

Today is the Sixth Sunday of Easter, also known as Rogation Sunday. (Rogation is from the Latin rogare, which means “to ask.”) In earlier Prayer Books, this was actually the last Sunday after Easter because Ascension Day is this Thursday, and in previous Prayer Books it began Ascensiontide, which lasted 10 days until Pentecost. The editors of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer followed the Roman Catholic Church in lengthening Eastertide from 40 to 50 days, and making Ascensiontide a portion of Eastertide.

Today is also known as Rogation Sunday because the following three days are Rogationtide, days in which prayers were traditionally made that God would grant good weather so that the crops would prosper. During the three days between Rogation Sunday and Ascension Day, the clergy would “beat the bounds” of the parish, going in procession around the boundaries of the parish, praying as they went, and as they returned to the church building chanting the Great Litany.

In the USA we have greatly lost the idea that a parish has physical boundaries, the same as a city or a town, although in other countries that is still true. We still cling to the idea that a diocese has physical boundaries, although in the ACNA, that is not as strict as in other Anglican churches. Thus the Diocese of Pittsburgh technically includes the churches in southwestern Pennsylvania, but we also have churches in Tennessee, Illinois, and Minnesota, which are technically within the bounds of other dioceses.

Partly because we have become a more urban society, it is very uncommon for the clergy to beat the bounds of the parish during Rogationtide. However the custom of chanting the Great Litany in procession is still observed in many churches on Rogation Sunday, just as we are doing today. You are invited to join in the Procession and follow the clergy and altar party around the insides of the Nave, returning to your seats as you process up the centre aisle towards the end of the Litany.

Fr Park is wearing a violet cope during the Procession, changing to a gold chasuble once he arrives in the Sanctuary, during the singing of the Trisagion, and wearing the gold chasuble during the Mass itself. This is because this morning we have two services in one: the Great Litany in Procession and the Holy Eucharist. Violet is the colour for the Litany, and gold is the colour for Eastertide.

                                                                Fr. John +