The only things that I found rather disappointing was the altar arrangement and some of the song selections. “Take and Eat” was not exactly a great song. They could have done better by choosing the communion antiphon for the day.

When I was an Anglican, I often heard the hymn; it is still popular. I never stopped to consider the double entendre, and I’m guessing that that is a pretty standard response.

Remember also that, in the late Victorian period, the Oxford Movement was very important, and dominant in places, within the Anglican church; its whole raison d’etre was to re-create an English Catholic church (Anglo-Catholicism), and was in many ways closer to Rome than to the Evangelical movement within the Anglican Communion.

This is where Queen Victoria’s story is interesting; she was staunchly Evangelical. Indeed, in addition to listening to this hymn, she meditated on a copy of the late Victorian image of Christ Knocking on the Door of the Heart, which was just about an Evangelical icon at the time.

I don’t know enough to speculate further; perhaps she just had eclectic taste.

Hmmn…a most fascinating tidbit. Now I’m wondering if Victoria had a deathbed conversion to Catholicism…thanks Father!