This hymn first appeared in Oratory Hymns, 1854, William Faber, in eight four-line stanzas under 1854, the title by “Come Frederickto Jesus. It began “Souls of men! why will ye scatter?” In 1862, in his Hymns, Faber had added five more stanzas, From the total of 13 stanzas, SDAH uses Nos. 4, 6, 8, and 13.

Faber was born to Calvinistic parents at the vicarage at Calverley, near Leeds, Yorkshire, on June 28, 1814. He began studies at Oxford in 1833, obtaining his B.A. in 1836 and an M.A. in 1839. Ordained deacon in the Anglican Church in 1837, he manifested his zeal for the church by writing a pamphlet in 1838 that denounced certain practices of the Roman Catholic Church. However, he was much influenced by John Henry Newman and supported the Oxford movement, which sought to restore ritual and ceremony to the worship service. Faber toured Europe in 1 843 and on his return was appointed rector of the small village of Elton in Huntingdonshire (now Cambridgeshire). He was a splendid preacher, but began to introduce Roman Catholic practices into his church, such as penance and private confession. In 1845 he visited Rome and Florence, and was received into the Roman Catholic Church, taking the name Wilfrid. He formed a group known as the Wilfridians, which in 1848 moved to the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Birmingham, where Newman was. They moved to London in 1849, establishing the London Oratorians, which in 1854 founded Brompton Oratory in southwest London. Faber was greatly impressed by the success of the Olney Hymns and those of Charles Wesley, and sought to introduce such congregational singing into the Roman Church. His first book, in 1849, contained 1 1 hymns; this was followed by Jesus and Mary in two editions, 1849 and 1852, and then by the two mentioned earlier, in 1854 and 1862. He also wrote poems and devotional works. In 1854 he received a D. D. degree from the pope. Faber also wrote SDAH 304, “Faith of Our Fathers.”

WELLESLEY was composed in 1877 by Lizzie Shone Tourjee, later Estabrook (1858-1913), as a graduation song when she was a student in Newton High School, Massachusetts. She attended Wellesley College, Massachusetts, and her tune was used there. In 1900 Hamilton C. MacDougall, professor of music at the college, compiled a songbook and included this tune, using the name given to it by her father, Eben Tourjee. The elder Tourjee, of Huguenot ancestry, was musical director at the Methodist Church.