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The hymn is based on a long medieval Latin poem, Salve mundi salutare. The last part of the poem, from which the hymn is taken, is addressed to Christ's head and begins "Salve caput cruentatum" The poem was translated into German by the Lutheran hymnist Paul Gerhardt (1607–1676). The hymn was first translated into English in 1752 by John Gambold (1711–1771), an Anglican vicar in Oxfordshire. His translation begins, "O Head so full of bruises". In 1830, an American Presbyterian minister, James Waddel Alexander (1804–1859) made a new hymn translation. Alexander's translation, beginning "O sacred head, now wounded", became one of the most widely used in 19th and 20th-century hymnals. There are several versions of the lyrics of this hymn. The one I used came from the hymnal used in my parish. We sing this hymn during Holy Week.