O Come, All Ye Faithful
"Adeste Fideles" is commonly attributed to John Francis Wade (circa 1743 - August 16, 1786) in approximately 1710. Wade was a Catholic layman, a music teacher, who fled the Jacobean rebellion in 1745. He went to Douai, France where there was an English college which was a refuge for English Catholics after the abdication of James II in 1688. The words may therefore be attributed to Wade or to others, but certainly originate amongst exiled Jacobite Roman Catholics of the 1740s.
The earliest existing manuscript shows both words and tune. It was published in the 1760 edition of Evening Offices of the Church. John Francis Wade included it in his own publication of Cantus Diversi (1751). It also appeared in Samuel Webbe's An Essay on the Church Plain Chant (1782).
The Latin was translated to English by Frederick Oakeley (September 5, 1802 - January 29, 1880) in 1841. This was first published in Murray's Hymnal in 1852. Frederick Oakeley was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and was ordained in 1828. In 1845, he switched from the Church of England to the Roman Catholicism; he became canon at Westminster Cathedral in 1852.
O Come All Ye Faithful has been called the Portugese Hymn is because it was sung in the Portuguese Embassy in London where the famous Vincent Novello was organist. Novello mistakenly ascribed the melody to John Redding and called it "Air by Redding, 1860".
Latin Lyrics
- Adeste, fideles, laeti triumphantes;
- Venite, venite in Bethlehem.
- Natum videte Regem angelorum.
- Chorus:
- Venite adoremus, venite adoremus,
- Venite adoremus, Dominum.
- Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine,
- Parturit virgo mater,
- Deum verum, genitum, non factum.
- Chorus
- En grege relicto, humiles ad cunas
- Vocati pastores approperant:
- Et nos ovanti gradu festinemus.
- Chorus
- Stella duce, Magi Christum adorantes,
- Aurum, thus, et myrrham dant munera.
- Jesu infanti corda praebeamus.
- Chorus
- Aeterni Parrentis splendorem aeternum
- Velatum sub carne videbimus,
- Deum infantem, pannis involutem.
- Chorus
- Pro nobis egenum et foeno cubantem
- Piis foveamus amplexibus;
- Sic nos amantem quis non redamaret?
- Chorus
English Lyrics
- O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
- O come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem.
- Come and behold Him, born the King of angels;
- Chorus:
- O come, let us adore Him,
- O come, let us adore Him,
- O come, let us adore Him,
- Christ the Lord.
- True God of true God, Light from Light Eternal,
- Lo, He shuns not the Virgin’s womb;
- Son of the Father, begotten, not created;
- Chorus
- Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation;
- O sing, all ye citizens of heaven above!
- Glory to God, all glory in the highest;
- Chorus
- See how the shepherds, summoned to His cradle,
- Leaving their flocks, draw nigh to gaze;
- We too will thither bend our joyful footsteps;
- Chorus
- Lo! star led chieftains, Magi, Christ adoring,
- Offer Him incense, gold, and myrrh;
- We to the Christ Child bring our hearts’ oblations.
- Chorus
- Child, for us sinners poor and in the manger,
- We would embrace Thee, with love and awe;
- Who would not love Thee, loving us so dearly?
- Chorus
- Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning;
- Jesus, to Thee be glory given;
- Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing.
- Chorus
German Lyrics
- Herbei, o ihr Gläubigen,
- Jauchzt und triumphieret,
- O kommet, o kommet nach Bethlehem!
- Schauet das Kindlein,
- Uns zum Heiland geboren!
- Chorus:
- O lasset uns anbeten,
- O lasset uns anbeten,
- Den König, den Herrn!
- Du König der Ehren,
- Herscher der Heerscharen,
- Du ruhst in der Krippe im Erdenthal.
- Gott, wahrer Gott,
- Von Ewigkeit geboren!
- Chorus
- Kommt, singet dem Herren,
- O ihr Engelchöre,
- Frolocket, frohlocket, ihr Seligen;
- Ehre sei Gott im Himmel
- Und auf Erden.
- Chorus
- Drum dir, der du heute
- Bist für uns geboren
- O Jesu sei Ehre und Ruhm und Dank!
- Wort des ewgen Vaters,
- Fleisch für uns geworden!
- Chorus