Sequence: Victimae Paschali Laudes

“Mors et vita duello conflixere mirando: dux vitae mortuus, regnat vivus.” (Victimae Paschali Laudes)

This is not a reading but a sequence, a chanted poem that stands between the epistle and the gospel acclamation, which is why it occupies a reading slot in the lectionary’s tables. It is obligatory on Easter Day and optional through the octave. Attributed to Wipo of Burgundy, a chaplain in the imperial court in the eleventh century, it is one of only four sequences the Roman Missal retained after the Council of Trent, alongside Veni Sancte Spiritus, Lauda Sion Salvatorem and the Dies Irae, out of a medieval repertoire of many hundreds. Its distinctive feature is dialogue: the assembly asks Mary Magdalene what she saw on the way, and she answers in the first person, reporting the empty tomb, the cloths and the angels. That exchange is closely related to the Quem quaeritis dialogue from which medieval liturgical drama grew. A stanza contrasting Mary’s truthfulness with the Jewish crowd was removed in the Tridentine revision.

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