O Come All Ye Faithful
O Come All Ye Faithful, was written in Latin to the music Adeste Fideles. John F. Wade wrote those words around 1743. Frederick Oakeley translated the Latin to English in 1841. William T. Brooke translated the last two verses, 4 and 5 a few years later.
O Come All Ye Faithful has 6 versus. The music is also attributed to John F. Wade but some say it was written by John Reading or Simao Portogallo.
John F. Wade’s origens are confused since he had to escape the Jacobean Rebellion in 1745. His birth is not really known and is given as some place in England or in Douay, France, where he settled in 1745. He was a Catholic although not a member of the clergy, he was strongly influenced by his religion.
John F. Wade wrote his hymn’s for individual benefactor’s and his date of death is known as August 16, 1786, in Douay, France. His English birth is assumed since he lived with exiled Englishmen in France and his hymns used Jacobean flourishes or decorations.
One of his historical researchers, Professor Bennet Zon who is also Head of the Department of Music in Durham University says that his hymn Adeste Fideles is actually a poem celebrating the birth of Prince Charles of England.
The hymn has a decipherable code known by the word “faithful” which was code for those who followed the Pretender to the throne, James Francis Edward Stuart. The hymn itself is supposedly an ode to Bonnie Prince Charles, the true king.
Durham University is the third oldest university in England and was founded by Act of Parliament in 1832 and given a Royal Charter in 1837.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45VGDNHJ4Zo
O Come All ye Faithful
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.
God of God,
Light of Light,
Lo! He abhors not the Virgin’s womb:
Very God,
Begotten, not created; (Chorus)
Sing, choirs of angels,
Sing in exultation,
Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above;
Glory to God
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)
Child, for us sinners
Poor and in the manger,
We would embrace thee, with love and awe;
Who would not live 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)
