I love Palm Sunday for a
number of reasons, one of which is the processional hymn “All Glory Laud and
Honor.” The church’s love of it
goes centuries back. During the
second station of the Palm Sunday Procession in the medieval Sarum Rite, it was
to be sung by seven choristers “in a conspicuous place.”
If memory serves me right,
some churches were creative as to what “conspicuous place” was chosen. At least one cathedral placed the
choristers by openings high up the West front but shielded by statues of
saints. So when the choristers
sang, it seemed to the crowd below that the saints were singing. (Wells Cathedral comes to mind. But readers may correct me. Also I have forgotten the term for
those front openings. Does anyone
know it?)
What I most definitely did
not know until just now is how ancient this hymn is. It turns out it was written (in Latin, of course) by Theodulph
of Orleans in the early Ninth Century, likely while he was in prison due to the
displeasure of Louis I aka Louis the Pious. The English translation sung today is remarkably faithful to the
original.
You may read some more
history of the hymn here.
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