Vita S. Gregorii a Joanne Diacono, lib. 1, c. 42. That the litanies
were recited on holy-saturday appears from several ancient _rites_
quoted by Marlene (De Ant. Eccl. Ritibus, lib. 4, c. XXV, and lib. 1,
c. I, art. 18). Palmer, wishing to defend the liturgy of the church
of England, maintains the antiquity of litanies, but pretends that the
invocations of saints were not originally contained in them, but were
added to them in the west about the eighth century (vol. I, p. 289).
From a passage in Walafridus Strabo he is led to admit that at _his_
time (the ninth century) "these invocations must have been _for
some time_ in use, and accordingly manuscript litanies containing
invocations have been discovered by learned men, which appear from
internal evidence to be as old as the eighth century". He attempts
however by _negative_ arguments to shew, that these invocations
are not more ancient than that period; although at the same time he
confesses that "we have no _distinct account_ of the _nature_ of the
service which was used on occasions of peculiar supplication during
the earliest ages". p. 272. To his arguments we may oppose the
_positive_ testimony of Walafridus Strabo, who says "The litany of the
holy names is believed to have come into use after Jerome, following
Eusebius of Cesarea, had composed the martyrology". A long time,
about three centuries, elapsed before the _canon_ of the scriptures
was determined; and it is not therefore surprising if the _canon_
of saints, (if such it may be called), who died at considerable
intervals, required some time for its formation.
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