The Royal Banners forward go, 
the Cross shines forth in mystic glow:
where he in flesh, our flesh who made,
our sentence bore, our ransom paid.
O Tree of beauty, Tree of light!
Adorned with royal purple bright!
Elect on whose triumphal breast
those holy limbs should find their rest.
O Cross, our one reliance, hail!
On this triumphant feast, avail
to give fresh grace now to the saint,
and pardon to the penitent.
This hymn ( three verses of which are given above) was written by Venantius Fortunatus (530-609), poet and bishop of Poitier. It was commissioned by Queen Radegunda, who had retired from court life and founded a convent near Poitier, named in honor of the Holy Cross. Emperor Justin II sent a piece of the True Cross for Radegunda’s convent and in a joyous celebration on November 19, 569, this hymn was sung as the relic was carried in procession to the convent church. This great festival was described by St. Gregory of Tours in his History of the Franks.
The hymn became widely used in the West and was eventually prescribed for Good Friday at the procession of the Blessed Sacrament from the Altar of Repose and for Vespers in Passiontide. When the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14) was established in the West after the triumphal return of the Cross by Emperor Heraclius (629) following its capture by the Persians, this hymn was also chosen as the office hymn for the feast.