Sequence

A hymn sung after the second lesson and before the gospel acclamation at the eucharist. Many sequences were composed in the middle ages, but the Council of Trent (1545-1563) sought to streamline the liturgy and reduced the number of sequences to those for Easter, Pentecost, Corpus Christi, and the Mass for the Dead. The sequence Stabat Mater was reinstated by the Roman Catholic Church in 1727 for the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary, which was celebrated on Sept. 15. The historic sequences for Easter, Pentecost, Corpus Christi, and the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary continue to be used in the Episcopal Church, although the feasts of Corpus Christi and the Seven Sorrows are not included in the Episcopal calendar of the church year. Those four sequences in The Hymnal 1982 include: for Easter, Victimae Paschali laudes, “Christians to the Paschal victim” (Hymn 183); for Pentecost, Veni Sancte Spiritus, “Come, thou Holy Spirit bright” (also known as “the Golden Sequence”) (Hymn 226); for Corpus Christi, Lauda Sion Salvatorem, “Zion, praise thy Savior, singing” (Hymn 320); and for the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary, Stabat Mater Dolorosa, “At the cross her vigil keeping” (Hymn 159). The Hymnal 1982 also provides a contemporary tune for “Come, thou Holy Spirit bright,” Arbor Street (Hymn 227). The medieval sequence Dies Irae (“Day of Wrath”) is not included in The Hymnal 1982. See “Golden Sequence, The.”