PROCESSION

The formal march of the clergy and the people putting up prayer. The first proce ions mentioned in ecclesiastical history are those begun at Constantinople by St. Chrysostom. The Arians of that city being forced to hold their meetings without the town, went thither night and morning, singing anthems. Chrysostom, to prevent their perverting the Catholics, set up counter-proce ions, in which the clergy and people marched by night, singing prayers and hymns, and carrying cro es and flambeaux. From this period, the custom of proce ions was introduced among the Greeks, and afterwards among the Latins; but they have subsisted longer, and been more frequently used, in the Western than in the Eastern Church. The name of Proce ion was formerly sometimes used for the Litany . (See Litany , Rogation Days .)