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Eucharistic sequence

Lauda Sion Salvatorem

St. Thomas Aquinas's sequence for the Mass of Corpus Christi (c. 1264) — 'Sion, lift thy voice and sing' — one of only a handful of sequences kept in the Roman Missal, its verses a hymn of the Real Presence.

The prayer

Sion, lift thy voice and sing: praise thy Saviour and thy King; praise with hymns thy Shepherd true. Dare thy utmost praise to bring; for he doth all praise exceed; never canst thou reach his due. […]

(The sequence sung at Mass on Corpus Christi — twenty-four stanzas in all, its later verses setting forth the doctrine of the Real Presence.)

Where it comes from

The dated sources the library holds, oldest first — in their own words.

  1. 1,246
    The feast of Corpus Christi

    First kept at Liège in 1246, the feast of Corpus Christi is extended to the whole Church by Pope Urban IV in 1264 (the bull Transiturus); St. Thomas Aquinas composes its Office — the hymns for the hours and the sequence for the Mass.

  2. 1,246
    In the Office of the feast

    Lauda Sion is the sequence appointed for the Mass of the feast.

  3. 1,264
    The Catholic Encyclopedia Catholic
    1907–1914
    “…the sequence composed by St. Thomas Aquinas, about the year 1264, for the Mass of Corpus Christi.”
    Source
  4. 1,264
    The tradition of Urban IV's commission

    A local tradition held that Pope Urban IV himself charged St. Thomas with composing the Office of Corpus Christi. The Catholic Encyclopedia judges this tradition "not well-based" — the hymns are Aquinas's, the direct papal commission uncertain.