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Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download • Extremely Rare Sequence (Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi)

Andrea Leal · September 23, 2020

HENEVER a Franciscan priest says the Traditional Latin Mass, there are a few variations. For example, during the Confíteor, the name of Saint Francis is added. I am told these small liturgical changes are not nearly as drastic of other orders, such as the Order of Preachers (“Dominicans”) or the Premonstratensians (“Norbertines”). However, there are some special feasts that Franciscan priests utilize when they say the Extraordinary Form: October 4th is an example. It is the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, and it has special Mass propers, including a Sequence! The “sign” it mentions is the SACRED STIGMATA which Saint Francis received.

I have created a recording of this hauntingly beautiful Sequence (Sanctitatis Nova Signa) because we will be singing it on October 4th here in Las Vegas. My intention was to just record it for my reduced Schola—the fewer singers you have, the more certain they have to be of the music. There is very little room for error; a single misstep can easily cause a train wreck in a hymn of this length! But as I worked on it, I found it to be so incredibly beautiful that I decided I had to share it with you. I do not know of any other recordings in existence, although perhaps there is one out there somewhere that I haven’t found yet.

*  PDF Download • “Sanctitatis Nova Signa” (Single Page)
—SEQUENCE for 4 October: Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi.

Here’s a direct link to the YouTube file.

You can download a literal English translation by Father Aquinas Byrnes:

*  PDF Download • English Translation & Explanation

It appears someone has attempted a metrical translation of all ten verses. A different attempt at a metrical translation can be found here. “Sanctitátis nova signa prodiérunt laude digna” has two melodies. The recording above is the secondary option with an alternate melody. The first option given for this Sequence sounds very similar to the melody of the LAUDA SION on the feast of Corpus Christi—but it isn’t quite the same. In some ways, learning a piece of plainchant that is similar but not identical is more difficult than learning a completely new melody.

Father Francisco Nahoe, OFM Conv, very kindly shared this with us:

In 1228, Pope Gregory IX (d. 1241) canonized Saint Francis of Assisi, barely two years after his death on 3 October 1226. The 13th century had already seen a profusion of composed poetic tropes aggregated to the Roman rite, especially following the interlectionary chants. We might, then, have expected the early appearance of a sequence for the Poverello. Indeed, the Renaissance scholar, Friar Luke Wadding (1588-1657) ascribes the Sanctitatis nova signa to the first biographer of the saint, Friar Thomas of Celano (1185-1260), best known for the Requiem sequence, Dies iræ, a paradigm of medieval piety. The association of Celano with the sequence for October 4 suggests a close relationship between Franciscan hagiography and the liturgical celebrations of the Order.

Twenty quatrains of iambic tetrameter, the text of the Sanctitatis extolls both the virtue of Saint Francis and the miraculous signs that underscore his holiness, the stigmata in particular. Wadding assigns a second sequence to Celano, the Fregit victor virtualis, composed in tercets. We associate at least two other sequences with the feasts of Saint Francis: Lætabundus, which re-works the now suppressed Christmas sequence, attributed to Cardinal Thomas of Capua (d. 1243), and Caput draconis, attributed by Friar Salimbene to Pope Gregory, formerly Ugolino di Conti, the cardinal Protector of the Friars Minor. Sanctitatis nova signa, however, was the only sequence to have appeared in any of the gradualia published in the last few centuries.

There are three versions of the Missale Romano-Seraphicum: Conventual, Observant and Capuchin. The Sanctitatis sequence is obligatory in the latter two, but not in the Conventual edition. Moreover, the sequence has two settings in the Graduale Romano-Seraphicum.

HERE SEEM TO HAVE BEEN numerous hymns written to honor Saint Francis of Assisi. Scroll to the bottom of the page, and you’ll encounter Franciscan plainchant books containing at least twenty different hymns; but I would like to emphasize one hymn in particular, Decus Morum Dux Minorum, which does something I’ve never seen before. The ending of each line is the title of a famous hymn! Online, I have seen certain parties criticize the Brébeuf hymnal because of its strong emphasis on the ancient Catholic hymns. Yet, Decus Morum reminds us how important these hymns were to Catholics. Having worked on the Brébeuf snippets index, I can attest to the fact that the ancient hymns (in yellow highlight below) form the core of the Brébeuf hymnal.

Notice the astonishing Latin rhymes of the first and third lines:

*  PDF Download • Decus Morum Dux Minorum

Readers will remember Phoebe Wing, who published a review of the FSSP Sacred Music Symposium. Miss Wing has transcribed Palestrina’s setting of this wonderful medieval hymn to Saint Francis: Decus morum dux minorum.

ATHER Valentine Young, a Franciscan priest who died in January of this year, has written: “The Liber Usualis took care of most of our liturgical needs. We had supplements to take care of our special Franciscan feasts, both for the Masses and Office. We also had a Cantuale with special Franciscan hymns. I still have a copy of ours.” These are the Franciscan plainchant books I’ve been able to locate:

*  PDF Download • CANTUALE ROMANO-SERAPHICUM (193 pages)
—Franciscan plainchant published in 1922.

*  PDF Download • GRADUALE ROMANO-SERAPHICUM (178 pages)
—Franciscan plainchant published in 1924.

*  PDF Download • CANTUALE ROMANO-SERAPHICUM (403 pages)
—Franciscan plainchant published in 1951.

*  PDF Download • Missae Propriae Ordinis Fratrum Minorum (192 pages)
—Franciscan plainchant published in 1951.

My colleague, Jeff Ostrowski, uploaded those books back in 2015.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

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Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Saint Francis Assisi, Sanctitatis nova signa prodiérunt laude digna, Sanctitatis nova signa SEQUENCE Last Updated: September 26, 2020

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About Andrea Leal

Andrea Leal is a wife and homeschooling mother of 6 children. She serves as choir director for the Traditional Latin Mass in Las Vegas.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“We cannot approve of the attitude of those who use the problems raised and discussed by the Council to create in themselves and in others an attitude of unrest and a desire for radical reformation, as if the Council gives every private opinion a chance to destroy the heritage of the Church. acquired during Her many centuries of history and experience.”

— Pope Paul VI (30 June 1965)

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