Christ is risen! Alleluia! Easter blessings to everyone! It is certainly proper that we celebrate the victory that Christ has won for us by His death and resurrection. I love how the Church expresses this Easter joy in the liturgy, namely, for eight days (Octave of Easter) we sing or recite the Gloria, and we have the option of singing (or reciting) the Easter Sequence, otherwise known as Victimae Paschali Laudes.
The Easter Sequence is not sung at the Easter Vigil, but is mandatory for Easter Sunday Masses, and is optional within the Octave of Easter. This beautiful and ancient poem, usually attributed to Wipo of Burgundy (d. 1048), chaplain of the German Emperor Conrad II in the 11th Century, tells a short narrative story of the Resurrection morn, set to a beautiful Gregorian chant melody. Here's the Latin text, followed by its English translation:
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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
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To the Paschal Victim let Christians offer a sacrifice of praise.
The Lamb redeemed the sheep.
Christ, sinless, reconciles sinners to the Father.
Death and life were locked together in a unique struggle.
Life's captain died;
now he reign, never more to die.
Tell us Mary, "What did you see on the way?"
"I saw the tomb of the now living Christ.
I saw the glory of Christ, now risen."
"I saw angels who gave witness;
the cloths too which once had covered head and limbs."
"Christ my hope has arisen.
He will go before his own into Galilee."
We know that Christ has indeed risen from the dead.
Do you, conqueror and king, have mercy on us.
Amen. Alleluia.
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Here's a link to the Sequence in Latin and English
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Blessed Easter to you all,
Fr. Lauro
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