Chants

Litany of the Saints

Listening to the names of the Saints contained in this litany,

we realize how easy it is to forget

how many have sacrificed their lives so that we can have

the word of Christ and have Jesus in our hearts.

We hear the names of Saints and Martyrs in everyday life

ignorant of the suffering they endured

and continue to endure

to spread the Good News.

(I began with the books Jesus Freaks and Extreme Devotion

to begin to understand ancient and modern day believers,

who sacrificed everything for Christ.)

A litany is a prayer of responsive petition

asking for God's aid.

The Litany of the Saints is one of the oldest of the litanies,

with forms of it appearing as early as the third century in the East.

The form prayed today was largely in place

by the time of Pope Gregory I (c. 540-604).

The saints included in a litany can vary according to

time, place, and patronage.

The prayer begins with a call for mercy from

God the Father,

God the Son, and

God the Holy Spirit.

(The manuscript illustrated here begins with this invocation;

the medieval Latin is heavily abbreviated.)

In addition to praying to God, the prayer continues

asking for the intercession of a series of Saints.

The ethereal, indeed, heavenly beauty of Gregorian chant

transports us out of this mundane world.

The image used for this post comes from a

medieval manuscript.

Psalter, Germany, 12th century,

British Library, Harley MS 2890, f. 198v.

Lyrics with translation can be found on Litanies page:

Tap or click on the above image to listen to the Litany of the Saints.