The Royal Banners Forward Go

Representative Text

1 The royal banners forward go;
The cross shows forth redemption's flow,
Where He, by whom our flesh was made,
Our ransom in His flesh has paid:

2 Where deep for us the spear was dyed,
Life's torrent rushing from His side,
To wash us in the precious flood
Where flowed the water and the blood.

3 Fulfilled is all that David told
In sure prophetic song of old.
That God the nations' king should be
And reign in triumph from the tree.

4 On whose hard arms, so widely flung,
The weight of this world's ransom hung,
The price of humankind to pay
And spoil the spoiler of his prey.

5 O Tree of beauty, tree most fair,
Ordained those holy limbs to bear:
Gone is thy shame, each crimsoned bough
Proclaims the King of Glory now.

6 To Thee, eternal Three in One,
Let homage meet by all be done;
As by the cross Thou dost restore,
So guide and keep us evermore.

Amen.

Source: Lutheran Service Book #455

Translator: J. M. Neale

John M. Neale's life is a study in contrasts: born into an evangelical home, he had sympathies toward Rome; in perpetual ill health, he was incredibly productive; of scholarly tem­perament, he devoted much time to improving social conditions in his area; often ignored or despised by his contemporaries, he is lauded today for his contributions to the church and hymnody. Neale's gifts came to expression early–he won the Seatonian prize for religious poetry eleven times while a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, England. He was ordained in the Church of England in 1842, but ill health and his strong support of the Oxford Movement kept him from ordinary parish ministry. So Neale spent the years between 1846 and 1866 as a warden of Sackvi… Go to person page >

Author: Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus

Venantius Honorius Clematianus Fortunatus (b. Cenada, near Treviso, Italy, c. 530; d. Poitiers, France, 609) was educated at Ravenna and Milan and was converted to the Christian faith at an early age. Legend has it that while a student at Ravenna he contracted a disease of the eye and became nearly blind. But he was miraculously healed after anointing his eyes with oil from a lamp burning before the altar of St. Martin of Tours. In gratitude Fortunatus made a pilgrimage to that saint's shrine in Tours and spent the rest of his life in Gaul (France), at first traveling and composing love songs. He developed a platonic affection for Queen Rhadegonda, joined her Abbey of St. Croix in Poitiers, and became its bishop in 599. His Hymns far all th… Go to person page >

Notes

Venantius Fortunatus wrote this hymn in honor of the founding of the monastery of Poiters. It is believed to have been first sung on November 19, 569 as part of a procession that brought the most revered relic of the Catholic church, a piece of the cross of Christ, from Constantinople to the French monastery. Nowhere is the work of the cross so poignantly portrayed as in theses immortal lines. --Greg Scheer, 1997

Tune

VEXILLA REGIS PRODEUNT (34665)


GONFALON ROYAL

Percy C. Buck (b. West Ham, Essex, England, 1871; d. Hindhead, Haslemere, Surrey, England, 1947), director of music at the well-known British boys' academy Harrow School, wrote GONFALON ROYAL for “The royal banners forward go” (gonfalon is an ancient Anglo-Norman word meaning banner). Buck publi…

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Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #5853
  • Adobe Acrobat image (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer score (NWC)
  • XML score (XML)

Instances

Instances (1 - 24 of 24)

Anglican Hymns Old and New (Rev. and Enl.) #729

Church Hymnal, Fifth Edition #243

Text

Common Praise (1998) #186

Common Praise #122a

Common Praise #122b

Text

Complete Anglican Hymns Old and New #663

Text

Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #273

Hymns Ancient and Modern, New Standard Edition #58a

Hymns Ancient and Modern, New Standard Edition #58b

Hymns and Psalms #179

Hymns Old and New #492

Text

Lutheran Service Book #455

TextPage Scan

Lutheran Worship #2

Text

Lutheran Worship #103

Text

Lutheran Worship #104

TextPage Scan

Rejoice in the Lord #286

Text

Rejoice in the Lord #287

RitualSong (2nd ed.) #604

TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #5853

The Hymnal 1982 #162

The New Century Hymnal #221

Text

The New English Hymnal #79

Text

Together in Song #332

TextPage Scan

Worship (3rd ed.) #435

Include 104 pre-1979 instances
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