Hymn #216: All Glory, Laud, and Honor | First Congregational Church

Theodulph of Orléans (d. 821) wrote this processional hymn while imprisoned by King Louis I, son of Charlemagne. The original Latin poem comprised thirty-nine couplets. In medieval and modern England and France, clergy and choirs paraded through their towns on Palm Sunday singing this hymn.

Theodulph of Orléans was a leading intellectual in Charlemagne’s court and was appointed Bishop of Orléans. When Charlemagne’s son, Louis I (called Louis the Pious) became Emperor in 818, he accused Theodulph of plotting against him. Theodulph spent his last years of life in prison, where he died in 821.

Melchior Teschner (1584-1635) composed this and another tune for a German hymn of consolation, VALET WILL ICH DIR GEBEN, for which it was first named. It was given the title ST. THEODULPH when it appeared with this text in Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861).

Melchior Teschner, born in Fraustaut, Silesia, in 1584, served as Lutheran pastor in the village of Oberpritschen, Posen, during a period of the plague. It was his only parish and he remained there until his death on December 1, 1635. His son and then grandson followed him as pastors in this same church.