Gloria, laus, et honor

All glory, laud, and honor

The Hymns of the Breviary and Missal

Gloria, laus, et honor, tibi sit, Rex Christe, Redemptor:
Cui puerile decus prompsit Hosanna pium.
Gloria, laus, etc.
Israel es tu Rex, Davidis et inclyta proles:
Nomine qui in Domini, Rex benedicte, venis.
Gloria, laus, etc.
Cœtus in excelsis te laudat cælicus omnis,
Et mortalis homo, et cuncta creata simul.
Gloria, laus, etc.
Plebs Hebræa tibi cum palmis obvia venit:
Cum prece, voto, hymnis, adsumus ecce tibi.
Gloria, laus, etc.
Et tibi passuro solvebant munia laudis:
Nos tibi regnanti pangimus ecce melos
Gloria, laus, etc.
Hi placuere tibi, placeat devotio nostra:
Rex bone, Rex clemens, cui bona cuncta placent.
Gloria, laus, etc.

All glory, laud, and honor
To Thee, Redeemer, King,
To whom the lips of children
Made sweet Hosannas ring.
All glory, laud, etc.
Thou art the King of Israel,
Thou David's royal Son,
Who in the Lord's Name comest.
The King and blessed One.
All glory, laud, etc.
The company of Angels
Are praislng Thee on high,
And mortal men and all things
Created make reply.
All glory, laud, etc.
The people of the Hebrews
With palms before Thee went;
Our pralse and prayer and anthems
Before Thee we present.
All glory, laud, etc.
To Thee before Thy Passion
They sang their hymns of praise;
To Thee now high exalted
Our melody we raise.
All glory, laud, etc.
Thou didst accept their praises,
Accept the prayers we bring,
Who in all good delightest,
Thou good and gracious King.
All glory, laud, etc.

Author: Theodulf, Bishop of Orleans (b. about 760; d. 821). Meter: Elegiac. Translation by J. M. Neale. There are twelve translations, two of which are in Annus Sanctus. Liturgical Use: Processional hymn on Palm Sunday. There is a pretty legend concerning the composition of this hymn. Theodulf, so runs the legend, had for some political reasons been imprisoned in a monastery in Angers. During his incarceration he wrote this hymn, which he sang from teh window of his cell when the king, Louis the Pious, was passing in the procession on Palm Sunday in 821. The hymn so moved the king that he immediately ordered that the holy bishop be set at liberty and restored to his see. The legend is now discredited on historical grounds.

The hymn is based on the following passages of Scripture: Ps. 117, 25-26; Matt. 21, 1-16; Mark 11, 9-10; Luke 19, 37-38; John 12, 12-13. This is the only instance of the use of elegiac verse in the hymns of the Church. Each stanza of this species of poetry consists of a couplet composed of a dactylic hexameter and a so-called pentameter verse. The latter is the same as the former except that it omits the last half of the third foot and of the sixth foot. In the following couplet the elegiac strophe is both imitated and described by the poet Coleridge:

In the hexameter rises | the fountain’s silvery column;
In the pentameter aye | falling in melody back.
The translation given below, which is also by J. M. Neale, is in the meter of the original. It is quite as literal as prose. The following words only will require any comment. 1. Cui ... pium: to whom youthful beauty offers a loving hosanna. 3. Cœtus cælicus omnis, the whole heavenly host. 5. Munia laudis: they offered their meed of praise. Melos (neut.), hymn song. Read the articles on Hosanna, Palm Sunday, and on Palm in Christian Symbolism, in the Cath. Encycl..

Glory and honor and laud be to Thee, King Christ the Redeemer!
Children of old in whose praise sweetest hosannas outpoured.
Israel’s Monarch art Thou, and be glorious Offspring of David,
Thou that approachest, a King, blest in the name of the Lord.
Glory and honor and laud, etc.
Glory to Thee upon high, the heavenly armies are singing;
Glory to Thee upon earth, man and creation reply.
Glory and honor and laud, etc.
Met Thee with palms in their hands, that day the folk of the Hebrews;
We with our prayers and our hymns, now to Thy presence approach.
Glory and honor and laud, etc.
They to Thee proffered their praise, for to herald Thy dolorous Passion;
We to the King on His throne, utter the jubilant hymn.
Glory and honor and laud, etc.
They were then pleasing to Thee, unto Thee our devotion be pleasing;
Merciful King, kind King, who in all goodness art pleased.
Glory and honor and laud, etc.

In the hexameter rises \|	the fountain’s silvery column;
In the pentameter aye \|	falling in melody back.