Litany
The word comes through Latin litania from Ancient Greek λιτανεία (litaneía), which in turn comes from λιτή (litḗ), meaning "prayer, supplication".
This form of prayer finds its model in Psalm 136: "Praise the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endures for ever.
In Rome, pope and people would go in procession each day, especially in Lent, to a different church, to celebrate the Sacred Mysteries.
Thus originated the Roman "Stations", and what was called the "Litania Maior", "Major Rogation", was held on 25 April.
The word rogation comes from the Latin verb rogare, meaning "to ask", which reflects the beseeching of God for the appeasement of his anger and for protection from calamities.
[4] In 590, when an epidemic caused by an overflow of the Tiber was ravaging Rome, Gregory the Great commanded a litany; on the preceding day he exhorted the people to fervent prayer, and arranged the order to be observed in the procession, during which the Litany of the Saints was prayed.
To prevent abuse, Pope Clement VIII, by decree of 6 September 1601, forbade the publication of any litany, except that of the saints as found in the liturgical books and that of Loreto.
A Marian litany is one dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary; only one is authorised for public recitation (mentioned above).
When faced with the Turkish armies at the gates of Vienna in 1528/29, Luther exhorted pastors to call their Christian people to repentance and prayer.
After the final petition, the priest makes the ekphonesis (exclamation) which summarizes the ektenia, and always involves an invocation of the Holy Trinity.
The most notable examples are the Hoshanot recited in the additional (musaf) service during all seven days of the Sukkot festival.
These are mostly alphabetical acrostics to which the refrain at the end of each line is "Hoshanah"!, a contraction of the biblical Hoshi'a na (Psalm 118:25), "Save us, please!"
These are recited in a procession around the sanctuary, with congregants holding the lulav and etrog (the biblical "Four Species" of Leviticus 23:40).
The most famous of these "supplicatory" prayers is Avinu Malkeinu ("Our Father, Our King"), which is recited during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur liturgies.
