To Thee, before Thy passion, they sang their hymns of praise;
To Thee, now high exalted, our melody we raise:
Thou didst accept their praises — accept the praise we bring,
Who in all good delightest, Thou good and gracious King!
ALL GLORY, LAUD AND HONOR
Theodulf of Orléans (c. 750-821)
When Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey, hopeful crowds filled the streets waving palm branches and praising God. But less than a week later, when it became clear that Jesus was not the revolutionary they expected, this same crowd demanded His crucifixion.
For Theodulf, whom King Charlemagne had made bishop of Orléans in the late 700s, praise was born of painful circumstances. After Charlemagne’s death, Theodulf was exiled to Angers, France, on charges of conspiracy. In the dark prison at Angers, Theodulf apparently wrote the text of this hymn, which became the great Palm Sunday processional of the Western church — a celebration of God’s grace sung by millions through the centuries.
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Adapted from The One Year® Book of Hymns by Mark Norton and Robert Brown, Tyndale House Publishers (1995).