Easter sequence: Victimae Paschali Laudes.

Christians, to the Paschal Victim

Offer your thankful praises!

A Lamb the sheep redeemeth:

Christ, who only is sinless,

Reconcileth sinners to the Father;

Death and life have contended

In that combat stupendous:

The Prince of Life, who died,

reigns immortal.

Speak Mary, declaring

What thou sawest wayfaring:

“The Tomb of Christ, who is living.

The glory of Jesu’s Resurrection;

Bright angels attesting,

The shroud and napkin resting.

Yea, Christ my hope is arisen:

To Galilee he goes before you.”

Happy they who hear the witness,

Mary’s word believing

Above the tales of Jewry deceiving.

Christ indeed from death is risen,

our new life obtaining.

Have mercy, victor King, ever reigning! •

Victimae paschali laudes is a sequence prescribed for the Catholic liturgy on Easter Sunday. It is usually attributed to the 11th century Wipo of Burgundy, chaplain to the German Emperor Conrad II, but has also been attributed to Notker Balbulus, Robert II of France, and Adam of St. Victor. Victimae Paschali Laudes is one of only four medieval sequences that were preserved in the Missale Romanum published in 1570 after the Council of Trent (1545-63). The three others were the Veni Sancte Spiritus for the feast of Pentecost, Lauda Sion for Corpus Christi, and the Dies Irae for the Requiem Mass (a fifth sequence, the Stabat Mater for the Feast of the Seven Dolours of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was added to the missal by Pope Benedict XIII in 1727. Victimae Paschali Laudes is one of the few sequences that are still in liturgical use today.