1 O head once full of bruises,
So full of pain and scorn,
'Mid other sore abuses,
Mocked with a crown of thorn;
O Head e'en now surrounded
With brightest majesty,
In death once bowed and wounded
On the accursed tree:
2 Thou Contenance trnscendent@
Thou life-creating Sun!
To worlds on Thee dependent--
Yet bruised and spit upon:
O Lord, what Thee tormented
Was our sins' heavy load,
We had the debt augmented
Which Thou didst pay in blood.
3 We give Thee thanks unfeigned,
O Saviour, Friend in need,
For what Thy soul sustained
When Thou for us didst bleed.
Grant us to lean unshaken
Upon Thy faithfulness,
Until, to glory taken,
We see Thee face to face.
Source: A Few Hymns and Some Spiritual Songs. Selected 1856, for the Little Flock. Revised, 1881 #119
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 >
Gambold, John, M.A., was b. April 10, 1711, at Puncheston, Pembrokeshire, where his father was vicar. Educated at Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1730, M.A. in 1734. Taking Holy Orders, he became, about 1739, Vicar of Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, but resigned his living in Oct. 1742, and joined the United Brethren [Moravians], by whom lie was chosen one of their bishops in 1754. He d. at Haverfordwest, Sept. 13, 1771. He published an edition of the Greek Testament; Maxims and Theological Ideas; Sermons, and a dramatic poem called Ignatius. About 26 translations and 18 original hymns in the Moravian Hymn Books are assigned to him. One or two of his hymns, which were published by the Wesleys, have been claimed for them, bu… Go to person page >
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 >| First Line: | O head, so full of bruises, So full of pain and scorn |
| Title: | O Head Once Filled with Bruises |
| German Title: | O Haupt, voll Blut und Wunden |
| Translator: | John Gambold |
| Author (attributed to): | Bernard of Clairvaux |
| Translator (into German): | Paul Gerhardt |
| Language: | English |
| Notes: | Paul Gerhardt translated "Salve caput cruentaturn," the seventh section of the Latin poem "Salve mundi salutare," into German as "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden." John Gambold appears to have translated "O head, so full of bruises" from the German text. |
| Copyright: | Public Domain |
My Starred Hymns