THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
of the period; but after Adam new sequences were with few exceptions, mere imitations of earlier forms
and melodies. Many of these melodies
Culmina- were such favorites that new texts
tion. were given them; and to this category
belong Notker's melodies Mater, Occidentana, and Justus ut palma major and minor, Wipo's Easter hymn, Gottschalk's Laus tibi, Christe, qui es, the sequence of the Virgin (Ave prceclara), the Easter sequence (Mane prima sabbati), and some of Adam's, while the Lastabundus exultet, by an unknown author, proved the most popular of all. In the oldest period the texts and, in part, the melodies of sequences were restricted in territory, so that a distinction may be drawn between German (St. Gall), Upper Italian (Verona, Nonantula), French (Limoges), and English (Winchester) sequences; but when the riming sequence was developed, some were used largely throughout the Roman Church, as the Natus ante scecula for Christmas, the Sancti Spiritus adsit for Whitsuntide, the Clare sanctorum for feasts of the apostles, and the Sancti baptistce for John the Baptist. On the other hand, despite the approval of Nicolas I. and Innocent III., Rome generally, as well as many dioceses and orders, declined officially to welcome the sequence. The Cistercians and Carthusians rejected it altogether, and the Cluniac monks reluctantly permitted it only on four feasts. In France and Germany, on the other hand, sequences were always popular, many sequentiaries containing more than a hundred texts. The melodies were mostly transmitted orally, the Neumenal collections being intended only for the choirmasters. The singing of the sequence was restricted to the clergy and choir, the congregation being forbidden to take part. The introduction and the concluding . passage were usually sung by the entire choir, while the double strophes were sung antiphonally, with musical accompaniment.
Soon after the rise of sequence composition, vernacular sequences were written in France (the Eulalia sequence). In Germany translations appeared more tardily, the favorite here being the Ave praclara maris stella, as in Sebastian Brant's Ave
durchliichte stern des meres. The se- Decline. quence form influenced medieval Latin
poetry, encouraging it to abandon the old forms and to create many new strophes, this influence ultimately extending to the vernacular. With the increase in the calendar of saints the number of sequences became enormous, some 5,000 texts with between 500 and 600 melodies. Many of these were poetically valueless, and after several synods had sought to reform conditions, the Council of Trent finally succeeded. The missal of Paul V. (1570) contains only four: Victimoe paschali, Veni Sancte Spiritus, Lauda, Sion, salvatorem, and Dies irce, to which was later added the Stabat mater, generally ascribed to Jacopone da Todi, or to Innocent III. (qq.v.). The Reformers were hostile to the sequence, and in the Lutheran Church, after long efforts, it was replaced by a congregational hymn. In France sequences of late date were stubbornly maintained, only to disappear ultimately when the unity of the Roman Catholic liturgy became an accomplished fact. The custom of singing the
Lcetabundus at the Easter dinner given by the pope seems to have given rise to parodies of the sequence, such as the Vinum bonum et suave, or the Victimai novali cinke ses, while Johann Nass composed in derision of Luther the Invicti Martini laudes intonant Christiani. [In many Anglican churches the sequence is represented by a hymn sung by the choir between the epistle and Gospel (C. Walker, Ritual "Reason Why," 2d ed. T. I. Ball, pp. 166-167, Milwaukee, 1908]. (J. Werner.)
Bibuography: Collections, examples, or translations of sequences are to be sought in: H. A. Daniel, Thesaurus hymnologicus, vol. ii., Halle, 1843; F. J. Mone, Lateinische Hymnen des Mittelalters, 3 vols., Freiburg, 1853-55; R. C. Trench, Sacred Latin Poetry, London, 1864; C. E. P. Wackernagel, Das deutsche Kirchenlied, vol. ii., 5 vols., Leipsic, 1864-77; G. Morel, Lateinische Hymnen des Mittelalters, 2 vols., Einsiedeln, 1867 (a rich collection); J. M. Neale, Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences, 3d ed., London, 1867; Seven Great Hymns, New York, 1867; W. Christ and M. Paranikas, Anthologia Grceca carminum Christianorum, Leipsic, 1871; D. T. Morgan, Hymns of the Latin Church, London, 1871; C. B. Pearson, Sequences from the Sarum Missal, ib. 1871; J. Kehrein, Lateinische Sequenzen des Mittelalters, Mainz, 1873 (most complete collection); F. A. March, Latin Hymns, New York, 1874; H. M. MacGill, Songs of Christian Creed and Life, London, 1876; C. Blume and G. M". Dreves, Analecta Hymnica, vols, viii.-x., xxxvii., xxxix., xl., xlii., xliv., Leipsic, 1886 sqq. ; S. W. Duffield, Latin Hymn-Writers and their Hymns, New York, 1889; W. H. J. Weale, Analecta liturgica, Bruges, 1889 sqq. (supplements Kehrein, above); G. M. Dreves, Prosarium Lemovicense, Leipsic, 1890; TJ. Chevalier, Bibliotheque liturgique, vols, vii., ix., Paris, 1900-01; W. A. Merrill, Latin Hymns, Boston, 1904; C. E. W. Brainerd, Great Hymns of the Middle Ages, New York, 1909; C. Blume and H. Bannister, Liturgische Prosen erster Epoche aus den Sequenzenschulen des Abendlandes, insbesondere die dem Notkerus Balberus zugeschriebenen, nebst Skizze ilber den Ursprung der Sequenz, Leipsic, 1911.
Consult : F. Wolf, Ueber die Lais, Sequenzen und Leiche, Frankfort, 1841; F. Clement, Hist, generate de la musiq-ie religieuse, Paris, 1860; K. Bartsch, Die lateinischen Sequenzen des Mittelalters, Rostock, 1868; Verzeichniss der Handschriften der Stiftsbibliothek von St. Gallen, pp. 509- 530, Halle, 1875 (indexes the sequences) ; J. Pothier, Lea Melodies gregoriennes, Tournay, 1881; D. S. Wrangham, The Liturgical Poetry of Adam of St. Victor, 3 vols., London, 1881; A. Reiners, Die Tropen-, Prosen-, und Prafationsgesange des feierlichen Hochamtes des Mittelalters, Luxemburg, 1884; L. Gautier, Hist, de la poisie liturgique, Paris, 1886; idem, La Poesie religieuse dans les clottrers des ix.-xi. siecles, ib. 1887; M. Manitius, Geschichte der christlich-lateinischen Poesie bis zur Mitte des 8. Jahrhunderts, Stuttgart, 1891; O. Fleischer, N eumen-Studien, Leipsic, 1893 sqq.; W. H. Frere, The Winchester Tropes, London, 1894; A. Dechevrens, Du rhythme dans I'hymnographie latine, 1895; N. Gihr, Die Sequenzen des rbmischen Messbuches, Freiburg, 1895; C. Blume and G. M. Dreves, Hymnologische Beitrage, Leipsic, 1897 sqq.; P. Wagner, Ursprung und Entwickelung der liturgischen Gesangsformen, Freiburg in Switzerland, 1901; idem, Normenkunde, ib. 1905; J. Werner, Notkers Sequenzen, Aarau, 1901; J. Thibaut, Origine byzantine de la notation neumatique de Viglise latine, Paris, 1907; S. M. Jackson, The Source of Jerusalem the Golden, Chicago, 1910; Julian, Hymnology, pp. 1041-53, 1700-01 (lists first lines, and gives the use).
SERAPH. See Angel, I., § 4.
SERAPION, se-ra'pi-en or se-r^'pi-en : The name of sixteen (or seventeen) persons more or less known to early Christian history, of whom the following may be noted.
1. Bishop of Antioch probably 190 or 191 to 211 or 212, successor of Maximinus and predecessor of Asclepiades. He was the author of a writing to a certain Domninus who had fallen away to Judaism;