Monsignor Philip Whitmore brings us a hymn written not for a congregation to sing
in Church but for choirs of angels to sing in heaven.
Written by the great
English cardinal, Blessed John Henry Newman as part of his dramatic poem ‘The Dream
of Gerontius” it’s a poem that’s best known these days in the version set to music
by another English Catholic Sir Edward Elgar.
It’s about an old man Gerontius
who dies and goes to heaven .There he meets his guardian angel who leads him into
the presence of God. As they approach they hear the angelic choirs singing in the
distance ...the angels sing hymns of praise like that for ever and ever.”