O sacred head now wounded

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O sacred head, now wounded, With grief and shame weighed down

Author (attributed to): Arnulf, Abbot of Villers-la-Ville; Author (German version): Paul Gerhardt; Author (attributed to): St. Bernard of Clairvaux; Translator: James W. Alexander (1829)
Tune: PASSION CHORALE (Hassler)
Published in 720 hymnals

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	O Sacred Head, Now Wounded

Piano/Organ
	Four Chorale Meditations for Organ and S…

Choral
	Passion Chorale

Representative Text

1 O sacred Head, now wounded,
with grief and shame weighed down,
now scornfully surrounded
with thorns, Thine only crown.
O sacred Head, what glory,
what bliss till now was Thine!
Yet, though despised and gory,
I joy to call Thee mine.

2 What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered
was all for sinners' gain;
mine, mine was the transgression,
but Thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior!
'Tis I deserve Thy place;
look on me with Thy favor,
vouchsafe to me Thy grace.

3 What language shall I borrow
to thank Thee, dearest Friend,
for this, Thy dying sorrow,
Thy pity without end?
O make me Thine forever!
And should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never
outlive my love for Thee.

4 Be near when I am dying,
O show Thy cross to me!
And, for my succor flying,
come, Lord, to set me free:
these eyes, new faith receiving,
from Thee shall never move;
for he who dies believing
dies safely in Thy love.

Source: Psalms and Hymns to the Living God #261

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Author (attributed to): Arnulf, Abbot of Villers-la-Ville

(no biographical information available about Arnulf, Abbot of Villers-la-Ville.) Go to person page >

Author (German version): Paul Gerhardt

Paul Gerhardt (b. Gräfenheinichen, Saxony, Germany, 1607; d. Lubben, Germany, 1676), famous author of Lutheran evangelical hymns, studied theology and hymnody at the University of Wittenberg and then was a tutor in Berlin, where he became friends with Johann Crüger. He served the Lutheran parish of Mittenwalde near Berlin (1651-1657) and the great St. Nicholas' Church in Berlin (1657-1666). Friederich William, the Calvinist elector, had issued an edict that forbade the various Protestant groups to fight each other. Although Gerhardt did not want strife between the churches, he refused to comply with the edict because he thought it opposed the Lutheran "Formula of Concord," which condemned some Calvinist doctrines. Consequently, he was r… Go to person page >

Author (attributed to): St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Bernard of Clairvaux, saint, abbot, and doctor, fills one of the most conspicuous positions in the history of the middle ages. His father, Tecelin, or Tesselin, a knight of great bravery, was the friend and vassal of the Duke of Burgundy. Bernard was born at his father's castle on the eminence of Les Fontaines, near Dijon, in Burgundy, in 1091. He was educated at Chatillon, where he was distinguished for his studious and meditative habits. The world, it would be thought, would have had overpowering attractions for a youth who, like Bernard, had all the advantages that high birth, great personal beauty, graceful manners, and irresistible influence could give, but, strengthened in the resolve by night visions of his mother (who had died in 1… Go to person page >

Translator: James W. Alexander

James W. Alexander (b. Hopewell, Louisa County, VA, 1804; d. Sweetsprings, VA, 1859) was often overshadowed by his father, the renowned Archibald Alexander, first professor at Princeton Theological Seminary. But James Alexander was also a fine preacher, teacher, and writer. He studied at New Jersey College (now Princeton University) and Princeton Seminary. Ordained in the Presbyterian Church, he alternated his career between teaching and pastoring; for two years (1849-1851) he was professor of ecclesiastical history and church government at Princeton Seminary. Alexander translated a number of hymns from Greek, Latin, and German but is mainly known today for his translation of "O Sacred Head." Bert Polman… Go to person page >

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Related Texts

First Line:	O sacred head, now wounded, With grief and shame weighed down
Title:	O sacred head now wounded
German Title:	O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden
Author (attributed to):	St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Author (attributed to):	Arnulf, Abbot of Villers-la-Ville
Author (German version):	Paul Gerhardt
Translator:	James W. Alexander (1829)
Meter:	7.6.7.6 D
Source:	Salve caput cruentatum, Latin
Language:	English
Notes:	Paul Gerhardt translated "Salve caput cruentatum," the seventh section of the Latin poem "Salve mundi salutare," into German as "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden." James W. Alexander then translated the German into the English "O Sacred Head Now Wounded."
Copyright:	Public Domain

Year A, Lent, Palm Sunday
This is recommended for Year A, Lent, Palm Sunday by 3 hymnal lectionary indexes including Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #168.
Year A, Lent, Palm Sunday
Related to Matthew 26-27 (LUYH)
Year A, Holy Week season, Wednesday of Holy Week
This is recommended for Year A, Holy Week season, Wednesday of Holy Week by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #221.
Year A, Holy Week season, Good Friday
This is recommended for Year A, Holy Week season, Good Friday by 5 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #221.
Year A, Holy Week season, Holy Saturday
This is recommended for Year A, Holy Week season, Holy Saturday by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #168.
Year A, Ordinary Time, Proper 22 (27)
Year B, Lent, Palm Sunday
This is recommended for Year B, Lent, Palm Sunday by 3 hymnal lectionary indexes including Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #168.
Year B, Lent, Palm Sunday
Related to Matthew 26-27 (LUYH)
Year B, Holy Week season, Wednesday of Holy Week
This is recommended for Year B, Holy Week season, Wednesday of Holy Week by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #221.
Year B, Holy Week season, Good Friday
This is recommended for Year B, Holy Week season, Good Friday by 5 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #221.
Year B, Holy Week season, Good Friday
Year B, Holy Week season, Holy Saturday
This is recommended for Year B, Holy Week season, Holy Saturday by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #168.
Year B, Holy Week season, Holy Saturday
Year B, Ordinary Time, Proper 23 (28)
This is recommended for Year B, Ordinary Time, Proper 23 (28) by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #221 and Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #168.
Year B, Ordinary Time, Proper 24 (29)
This is recommended for Year B, Ordinary Time, Proper 24 (29) by 3 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #221 and Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #168.
Year C, Lent, Second Sunday
This is recommended for Year C, Lent, Second Sunday by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #221.
Year C, Lent, Palm Sunday
This is recommended for Year C, Lent, Palm Sunday by 3 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #221.
Year C, Lent, Palm Sunday
Related to Matthew 26-27 (LUYH)
Year C, Holy Week season, Wednesday of Holy Week
This is recommended for Year C, Holy Week season, Wednesday of Holy Week by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #221.
Year C, Holy Week season, Good Friday
This is recommended for Year C, Holy Week season, Good Friday by 5 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #221.
Year C, Holy Week season, Good Friday
Year C, Holy Week season, Holy Saturday
This is recommended for Year C, Holy Week season, Holy Saturday by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #168.

Chinese

生命聖詩 - Hymns of Life, 1986 #118

English

10 shown out of 473

Notes

Scripture References:
st. 1 = Matt 27:29, Mark 15:17-18, John 19:2-3, Isa. 53:3-5

Originally from a Latin poem beginning "Salve mundi salutare" and attributed to either Bernard of Clairvaux (twelfth century) or Arnulf von Loewen (thirteenth century), "O Sacred Head" is one of seven sections to be used for meditation during Holy Week. Each section focuses on one aspect of Christ's dying body.

Paul Gerhardt (PHH 331) translated the seventh section ("Salve caput cruentatum"), which addresses Christ's head, into German ("O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden"). His ten-stanza translation was published in Johann Crüger's (PHH 42) Praxis Pietatis Melica (1656).

The English translation is mainly the work of James W. Alexander (b. Hopewell, Louisa County, VA, 1804; d. Sweetsprings, VA, 1859). It was published in Joshua Leavitt's The Christian Lyre (1830) and revised by Henry W. Baker (PHH 342) for Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861). Alexander was often overshadowed by his father, the renowned Archibald Alexander, first professor at Princeton Theological Seminary. But James Alexander was also a fine preacher, teacher, and writer. He studied at New Jersey College (now Princeton University) and Princeton Seminary. Ordained in the Presbyterian Church, he alternated his career between teaching and pastoring; for two years (1849-1851) he was professor of ecclesiastical history and church government at Princeton Seminary. Alexander translated a number of hymns from Greek, Latin, and German but is mainly known today for his translation of "O Sacred Head."

"O Sacred Head" has enjoyed great popularity since 1656; the hymn appears in all modern hymnals, in many languages and translations, and with various numbers of stanzas. Deeply devotional, the text makes a very personal application of Christ's atoning death (st. 1-2) and confesses our gratitude and commitment to Christ (st. 3).

Liturgical Use:
Good Friday

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

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Tune

PASSION CHORALE (Hassler)

The tune HERZLICH TUT MICH VERLANGEN has been associated with Gerhardt's text ["O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden"] since they were first published together in 1656. The tune's first association with a sacred text was its attachment in 1913 [sic: should read 1613] to Christoph Knoll's funeral text "Herzl…

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For Leaders

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Worship Notes
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This hymn text is often attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux, a French abbot and founder of the Cistercian Order in the early twelfth century. In certain medieval orders, monks would spend hours meditating upon the crucifix. They would mentally divide the body of Christ into parts and meditate on each part respectively. Bernard (some think it was medieval poet Arnulf of Louvain) wrote a poem of fifty lines for each part of Christ’s body - his feet, hands, side, breast, heart, and head, and called it, “A rhythmic prayer to any one of the members of Christ suffering and hanging on the Cross” ('members' here refers to body parts). Bernard’s prayer to Christ’s head was the text hymnist Paul Gerhardt translated into German in the seventeenth century, and from which we have the English translation, “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded.” Just as Bernard would meditate on the crucifix, so too does this text call us to remember the wounded and broken body of Christ as He suffered for us. It is not an activity we can ever particularly enjoy doing, but in the midst of reflecting on this in sorrow, we find buried, beneath our grief and shame, a pearl of joy; we can call this Savior, “though despised and gory,” our own. He suffered because of His love for us; we remember because of our love for Him.

Text:

The author of the original Latin text is often disputed. Some argue it was written by Arnulf of Louvain in the thirteenth century, but most attribute the text to Bernard of Clairvaux, as part of a seven-part prayer to the suffering body of Christ on the cross. Albert Bailey describes the Latin text as “thoroughly medieval and monkish in conception” (The Gospel in Hymns, 274). In the seventeenth century it was translated into German by Paul Gerhardt, and into English from the German by James Waddell Alexander in the nineteenth century. Alexander’s translation has undergone many alterations over the years, so it is nearly impossible to find any two modern hymnal versions in agreement about the text as a whole. The three verses shown in the Psalter Hymnal are the most common, though some hymnals include a fourth verse which begins: “Be near me, Lord, when dying; O show thy cross to me….”

Tune:

The tune HERZLICH TUT MICH VERLANGEN, also known as PASSION CHORALE, was originally composed for a secular German courting song entitled, “Confused are all my feelings, A tender maid’s the cause.” It’s either quite funny or slightly disturbing that the same tune can be used for something as quaint as an old love song, and something as reverent and somber as this Passion hymn. The editors of the Psalter Hymnal Handbook describe this as “a glorious melody whose beauty has done much to fit the private devotional text onto the lips of congregations” (PHH).

This hymn needs little accompaniment, for the text and voices crying out, along with the “glorious melody,” is enough to carry the song. Consider a simple piano and violin accompaniment, as demonstrated by Fernando Ortega in his recording. For at least one verse, have the instruments drop out entirely and sing a cappella, making use of Bach’s beautiful harmonies. Amy Grant’s a cappella recording is an excellent example of this.

When/Why/How:

This hymn is traditionally sung on Good Friday. During a Tenebrae service, it could be sung after the Shadow of Desertion of the Shadow of Crucifixion & Humiliation. The subject matter of the hymn covers the entirety of Christ’s suffering, however, so it could really be sung at any point during the service.

Suggested Music:

Bock II, Almon. O Sacred Head Now Wounded - Choir
Ferguson, John. O Sacred Head, Now Wounded - (Choral Score) -Set to an original tune by John Ferguson and ending with PASSION CHORALE
Raney, Joel. O Sacred Head, Now Wounded - Choir and Cello
Wagner, Douglas E. Not a Word - Choir anthem pairing "O Sacred Head" with "He Never Said a 'Mumbalin Word
Childers, Brian. Meditation on Passion Chorale - Handbells
Anderson, Christine and Daniel Kramlich. Lenten Medley - Hsndbell medley of PASSION CHORALE and WONDROUS LOVE
Wagner, Douglas E. Handbell Hymns for Lent and Easter
Bloedow, Mark E. Five Lenten and Holy Week Hymn Settings - Organ

Laura de Jong,
Hymnary.org

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Timeline

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Arrangements

Store

Piano/Organ Four Chorale Meditations for Organ and Solo Instrument For Such a One as This Trumpet Solos for Worship, Vol. 2 (Arranged with Keyboard Accompaniment) More Piano/Organ...
Choral Passion Chorale O Sacred Head, Now Wounded - (Choral Score) O Sacred Head Now Wounded More Choral...
Instrumental Trumpet Solos for Worship, Vol. 2 (Arranged with Keyboard Accompaniment) French Horn Solos for Worship (Arranged with Keyboard Accompaniment) French Horn Solos for Worship (Arranged with Keyboard Accompaniment) More Instrumental...
Handbells O SACRED HEAD, NOW WOUNDED From the Cross to the Crown (Distinctive settings for Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost for 2 or 3 octaves, Handbells or Handchimes) O SACRED HEAD, NOW WOUNDED More Handbells...
PowerPoint O SACRED HEAD (Voices United 1996 - 145) O SACRED HEAD, NOW WOUNDED (Praise! Our Sond and Hymns 213) O SACRED HEAD, NOW WOUNDED (Blue Psalter Hymnal 355) More PowerPoint...