The Easter sequence — sung at the Mass of Easter Sunday and through the Easter Octave — composed by Wipo of Burgundy around 1040.
Victimae paschali laudes immolent Christiani. Agnus redemit oves: Christus innocens Patri reconciliavit peccatores. Mors et vita duello conflixere mirando: dux vitae mortuus, regnat vivus. Dic nobis Maria, quid vidisti in via? Sepulcrum Christi viventis, et gloriam vidi resurgentis: Angelicos testes, sudarium, et vestes. Surrexit Christus spes mea: praecedet suos in Galilaeam. Scimus Christum surrexisse a mortuis vere: tu nobis, victor Rex, miserere. Amen. Alleluia.
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 Jesus' resurrection; bright angels attesting, the shroud and napkin resting. Yea, Christ my hope is arisen; to Galilee he goes before you.' Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining: have mercy, Victor King, ever reigning! Amen. Alleluia.
Sequence at the Mass of Easter Sunday; optionally on each day of the Easter Octave.
The Victimae Paschali Laudes is one of only four Latin liturgical sequences retained in the Tridentine Roman Missal after the Council of Trent's 1570 reform (the others being Veni Sancte Spiritus for Pentecost, the Lauda Sion for Corpus Christi, and the Dies Irae for the Requiem Mass).
It was composed around 1040 by Wipo of Burgundy, chaplain to the Emperor Henry III. The sequence dramatizes the Easter Sunday Gospel scene: Mary Magdalene's encounter with the angel and the empty tomb, presented as a sung dialogue between the chorus and Mary herself. It is one of the most ancient extant pieces of dramatic Latin liturgy and is the direct musical ancestor of the later medieval Latin liturgical drama tradition (the Quem quaeritis Easter trope).
