"All Glory, Laud and Honour" is an English translation by the Anglican clergyman

John Mason Neale John Mason Neale (24 January 1818 – 6 August 1866) was an English Anglican priest, scholar and hymnwriter. He worked and wrote on a wide range of holy Christian texts, including obscure medieval hymns, both Western and Eastern. Among his most ...

of the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

hymn "

Gloria, laus et honor ''Gloria, Laus et Honor'' is a Christian hymn composed and written by Theodulf of Orléans between 810 and 817, and sung as a processional for Palm Sunday, based on the story of Jesus's arrival in Jerusalem before his passion and death. It was m ...

", which was written by

Theodulf of Orléans Theodulf of Orléans (Saragossa, Spain, 750(/60) – 18 December 821) was a writer, poet and the Bishop of Orléans (c. 798 to 818) during the reign of Charlemagne and Louis the Pious. He was a key member of the Carolingian Renaissance and an im ...

in 820. It is a

Palm Sunday Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Palm Sunday marks the first day of Hol ...

hymn, based on

Matthew 21 Matthew 21 is the twenty-first Chapters and verses of the Bible, chapter in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament section of the Christian Bible. Jesus Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, triumphally or majestically arrives in Jerusalem and comm ...

:1–11 and the occasion of Christ's

triumphal entry into Jerusalem In the accounts of the four canonical Gospels, Jesus Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem took place in the days before the Last Supper, marking the beginning of his Passion, his time of suffering, death, and resurrection celebrated during H ...

History

Theodulf became the

Bishop of Orléans A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

under

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first ...

. When Charlemagne died and

Louis the Pious Louis the Pious (german: Ludwig der Fromme; french: Louis le Pieux; 16 April 778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was King of the Franks and co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aqui ...

became the emperor of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...

, Theodulf was removed from the bishopric and placed under house arrest at a monastery in

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...

during the power struggle following Louis' ascension, mostly due to his opposition to icons and Louis' suspicion that Theodulf supported an Italian rival to the throne. During his arrest, Theodulf wrote "Gloria, laus et honor" for Palm Sunday. Although likely apocryphal, a 16th-century story asserted that Louis heard Theodulf sing "Gloria, laus et honor" one Palm Sunday, and was so inspired that he released Theodulf and ordered that the hymn be sung thereafter on every Palm Sunday. A translation into Middle English was effected by William Herebert: "Wele, herying and worshipe be to Christ that dere ous boughte,/ To wham gradden 'Osanna' children clene of thoughte." In 1851, John Mason Neale translated the hymn from Latin into English to be published in his ''Medieval Hymns and Sequences''. Neale revised his translation in 1854 and revised it further in 1861 when it was published in the first edition of ''

Hymns Ancient and Modern ''Hymns Ancient and Modern'' is a hymnal in common use within the Church of England, a result of the efforts of the Oxford Movement. The hymnal was first published in 1861. The organization publishing it has now been formed into a charitabl ...

''. The hymn was originally made of thirty-nine verses however only the first twelve lines were sung since a ninth-century published manuscript attributed to St. Gall until Neale's translation. The original Latin words are used by Roman Catholics alongside the English translation.

Text

Neale's hymn appears as Number 86 in ''

'' in a version with six stanzas, using the first four lines as the refrain, which is repeated between each stanza. The original Latin stanzas were more numerous, but although they were translated by Neale, many are not sung nowadays, including one which was omitted for "evident reasons", the first two lines reading "Be Thou, O Lord, the Rider,/ And we the little ass;". The hymn's principal theme is praising Christ's

, as evident in the refrain, and it is usually sung for Palm Sunday.

Tune

The commonly used tune of the hymn, titled "St. Theodulf" or originally "", was composed in 1603 by

Melchior Teschner Melchior Teschner (29 April 1584 – 1 December 1635) was a German cantor, composer and theologian. Born in Wschowa in Poland, Teschner attended the ''Gymnasium'' in Zittau, Saxony, and studied under Johann Klee. In 1602 he began studies in music t ...

. The following harmonisation is from

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

, as it appears in the

New English Hymnal ''The New English Hymnal'' is a hymn book and liturgical source aimed towards the Church of England. First published in 1986, it is a successor to, and published in the same style as, the 1906 ''English Hymnal''. It is published today by SCM C ...

: << << \new Staff \new Lyrics \lyricmode \new Lyrics \lyricmode \new Staff >> >> \layout \midi

In popular culture

In 1967, the hymn was covered by British singer

Sir Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

on his ''Good News'' album.

References

External links

* , sung by the

Choir of King's College, Cambridge The Choir of King's College, Cambridge is an English Anglican choir. It is considered one of today's most accomplished and renowned representatives of the great English choral tradition. It was created by King Henry VI, who founded King's Col ...

{{Authority control English Christian hymns Cliff Richard songs 9th-century Christianity Palm Sunday hymns Hymns in The English Hymnal