Victimae Paschali Laudes

Tell us, O Mary, what did you see along the way?

Christus Surrexit!

Among the dozens of Sequences which developed over the centuries, only five remain in general use to this day.

For those of you not familiar with the wider corpus of historical Sequences, this is especially significant as these chants demonstrate some of the heights of Catholic liturgical poetry. To whittle this list to the five most important testifies to the grandeur of these five.

Among these grand five, one stands out clearly as the most glorious of them all: The Sequence for Easter Sunday. Take a listen:

And for your edification, a translation:

I. Sing the Paschal Victim's praise!

II. A Lamb the sheep did save;
and Christ back to the Father, sinless, sinners gave.
Death and Life clashed in mysterious strife;
Life's Captain, dead, now lives and reigns instead.

IIIa. O Mary, say, what you saw by the way!
The tomb of the living Christ; and the glory of Him risen.

IIIb. I heard the angelic word: I bowed to see the bands, the shroud.
Christ my hope is risen, and He is gone before you into Galilee!

IV. Christ from the dead is truly risen!
Victorious King, to us have mercy on us.
Amen. Alleluia.

In four short stanzas¹, a truly glorious way to usher in the Easter season! After nearly two months of being separated from our beloved Alleluia, the embrace of its return is prolonged in this glorious extension of its verse when it returns.

Dom Johner, in The Chants of the Vatican Gradual offers an enlightening unpacking of stanzas III and IV:

The four succeeding strophes are a dialogue between the choir and Mary Magdalen. With the motive beginning an octave lower than that of IIa. (acd), the melody now becomes somewhat more calm.

IIIa 1. O Mary, say, what sawest thou by the way! 2. The tomb of the living Christ; and the glory of Him risen.

IIIb 1. I heard the angelic word: I bowed to see the bands, the shroud. 2. Christ my hope is risen, and He is gone before you into Galilee!

Again the jubilant motive of IIa. resounds. It springs from exultant, unshakable conviction.

IV. Christ from the dead is truly risen! Victorious King, to us kind pity show. Amen. Alleluia. As far as Victor Rex the melody is full of power, upon which a confident miserere with a softer coloring follows. A hearty Amen, Alleluia brings this marvelous song to a close.²

Unsurprisingly, this millennium-old chant has multiple adaptations by notable composers, my favorite of which is by Pierre Cochereau in Notre Dame Cathedral.

May the Lord bless you all with a joyous Eastertide!

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Special thanks to to Jacob Bauer for writing this guest post. Please be sure to check out Jacob’s Substack, Contemplata Tradere, for short reflections pertaining to the Catholic Faith and its traditions.

1. Stanza IV previously contained two parts as well, between IIIb and what is now IV. “Credendum est magis soli Mariae veraci quam Judaeorum turbae fallaci.” / “More trust should be placed in truthful Mary than in a deceitful crowd of Jews.” This, however, went the way of the rest of the Sequences in 1570, which can be read about here.) It is especially interesting to note that it followed the same melody as what we now know as stanza IV, which would explain why, in its current form, the melody in stanza IV is not repeated.

2. The Chants of the Vatican Gradual by Dom Dominic Johner, OSB, page 182