litany

In the Christian church, a form of prayer or supplication led by a priest with set responses by the congregation. It was introduced in the 4th century.

litany

A supplicatory chant consisting of a series of petitions with an infrequently changing response to each. The best-known litanies in the Roman Church are the Litany of the Saints, sung on Holy Saturday and during Rogationtide, and the 13th-century Litaniae Lauretanae. The reformed churches have also adopted the litany, excluding references to the saints, as in Thomas Cranmer's litany, still used in the Anglican Church.