NE OF THE OUTSTANDING theologians of the 20th century was FATHER LESLIE RUMBLE (1892–1975), known to so many Catholics because of the famous Radio Replies series. He was once asked what he thought of the hymns of Charles Wesley. Dr. Rumble replied that many of the Eucharistic hymns were “very beautiful,” in spite of the fact that Charles Wesley was not a Catholic. I would be grateful to any reader who could locate that citation, which I read twenty years ago and cannot (at this moment) locate. Charles Wesley had a son named Samuel who, in 1784, converted to Catholicism, called by the Protestants “that poisonous Romish sect.” According to a footnote on page 818 of the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal, Samuel Wesley—a child prodigy, organist,1 violinist, and composer—was called by some “the English Mozart.”
Hymn For Weddings • The following text is by Charles Wesley, a famous writer of hymns. It was included in many Catholic hymnals, such as the SUMMIT CHOIRBOOK (published in 1983 by the Dominican Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary). For the record, the SUMMIT CHOIRBOOK was formally reviewed by Daniel Craig in 2020. Last week, two of my choir members got married and requested this hymn:
To access this hymn’s media in the Brébeuf Portal, click here.
Melodic Provenance • The melody was written by Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (d. 1918), author of a famous study on Sebastian Bach published in 1909. Like Handel, Tchaikovsky, Telemann, Sibelius, and Schumann, Parry studied law at the university, not music. A “final verses” harmonization by Noel Rawsthorne was published in 2011.
1 His ability on the organ was so highly regarded that he was introduced to (and played for) Felix Mendelssohn in September 1837.
