TRANSCRIPT

The Eastern Blessings or Rogation Days were celebrated in spring, during the Easter season. This made a big impression on me when I was a boarder, one I'll never forget. We marched in an outdoor procession. First, a Mass was celebrated indoors, then we went outside to pray and thank God for the goodness of nature. I quote, 'The Rogations are a petition to obtain God's blessing on the crops and on all our undertakings, on our physical and spiritual life.' This is an extract from my missal. The missal is another thing that's used less and less. The ceremony before the procession was rather long. Several nuns walked at the head of the procession, and the students followed. There were a lot of us in the procession. We walked two by two. Someone chanted in front and we responded, 'Te rogamus, audi nos.' This was called the Litany of the Saints.

Suzanne Desaulniers
Graduate at CMI in 1953