Adeste Fideles

Representative Text

1 Adeste, fideles,
laeti, triumphantes,
venite, venite in Bethlehem;
natum videte
regem angelorum:
[Refrain:]
venite, adoremus,
venite, adoremus,
venite, adoremus Dominum.

2 Deum de Deo,
Lumen de Lumine,
gestant puellae viscera,
Deum verum,
genitum, non factum: [Refrain]

3. Cantet nunc hymnos
chorus angelorum;
cantet nunc aula caelestium:
Gloria
in excelsis Deo! [Refrain]

4 Ergo qui natus
die hodierna,
Jesu, tibi sit gloria:
Patris aeterni
verbum caro factum: [Refrain]

Source: Hymns of Glory, Songs of Praise #307

Author: John Francis Wade

John Francis Wade (b. England, c. 1711; d. Douay, France, 1786) is now generally recognized as both author and composer of the hymn "Adeste fideles," originally written in Latin in four stanzas. The earliest manuscript signed by Wade is dated about 1743. By the early nineteenth century, however, four additional stanzas had been added by other writers. A Roman Catholic, Wade apparently moved to France because of discrimination against Roman Catholics in eighteenth-century England—especially so after the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745. He taught music at an English college in Douay and hand copied and sold chant music for use in the chapels of wealthy families. Wade's copied manuscripts were published as Cantus Diversi pro Dominicis et Festis p… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Adeste fideles
Title: Adeste Fideles
Author: John Francis Wade
Meter: Irregular with refrain
Language: Latin
Refrain First Line: Venite, adoremus
Notes: English translation: See: "O Come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant" by Frederick Oakeley; Spanish translation: "Venid, fieles todos ,a Belén vayamos" by Juan Bautista Cabrera Ivars; Polish translation: See "Pośpieszcie, o wierni" by Paweł Sikora; German translation: See "Herbei, o ihr Gläub'gen"; Swahili translation: See "Umati wa Yesu, njooni kwa furaha"
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

Adeste fideles. In the Evening Office of the Church in Latin and English, London 1760, this hymn consists of stanzas i., ii., vii., viii. of the text. Concerning the translation it must be noted:—
1. That to Canon Oakeley's translation as in the Altar Hymnal, 1884, No. 7, Mr. W. T. Brooke added a translation of stanzas iii.— vi., thus producing a translation of the full text.
2. The translation No. 7, "Come hither, ye faithful," is attributed, in the Pennsylvania Lutheran Church Book, 1868, to "C. P. Krauth."
3. "Come, all ye faithful," in the Roman Catholic Hymns for the year, 1867, is a slightly altered form of Neale's translation (No. 9), which dates 1854.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

Timeline

Instances

Instances (1 - 77 of 77)
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American Catholic Hymnal #354

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Hymns for a Pilgrim People #101

Text

Hymns for Youth #75a

Tune Info

Pilgrim Hymnal #133

The Ave Maria Hymnal. 2nd rev. ed. #d3

The Cambridge Hymnal #164a

TextAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #14234

Text

TTT-Himnaro Cigneta #593

Cantiones Sacrae #d3

Children's Hymn Book and Sodality Manual #d2

Gems of Christian Song #d1

Hosanna of the Little Ones #d2

Hymns used by the Pupils of the Sisters of Notre Dame #d3

Lobet den Herrn, Gesangbuch fuer alle Zeiten des Kirchenjahres #d3

School Recreations #d4

The Catholic Youth's Hymn Book by the Christian Brothers. Rev. #d4

The Hymn Book of the New Sunday School Companion #d1

The Milton Hymnal #d4

The Parochial Hymnal, a Select Collection #d2

The People's Hymnal #d6

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Catholic Church Hymnal with Music #229

The Harvard University Hymn Book #74

Text

Catholic Book of Worship III #329B

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Coleccion de Cantos Sagrados Populares #17

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Columbia University Hymnal #46

The Beacon Song and Service book #202

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The Oxford Hymn Book #339

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A Treasury of Catholic Song #17

Hymns for Worship #160

Hymns of the Spirit for Use in the Free Churches of America #156, a

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The Army and Navy Hymnal #RC2

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The Parish Hymnal #7

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Laudis Corona #17

The Hymnal #c123

Carols for a Merry Christmas and a Joyous Easter #d2

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Singing the Living Tradition #253

Text

Śpiewnik Ewangelicki #72

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The Sodalist's Hymnal #16

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Flor Y Canto (2nd ed.) #317

Gijigong Enamog Mikana #231

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Laudamus #348

A New Hymnal for Colleges and Schools #225

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Church Hymnary (4th ed.) #307

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Hymns of Glory, Songs of Praise #307

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Hymns of the Church #566

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University Hymns #94

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The De La Salle Hymnal #4

Ave Maria, eine Sammlung deutscher katholischer Kirkenlieder #d2

Cantate Omnes ... with Supplement #d5

Catholic Book of Worship #d2

Half a Hundred Catholic Hymns, selected from The New Catholic Hymnal #d1

Hymnal for Colleges and Schools. 3rd ed. #d3

Hymns, Carols and Chants for the Sunday School Children of St. Ignatius' Church #d2

Jubilee Hymns. Book IV #d2

Jubilee Hymns. Parish worship ed. #d1

Jubilee Hymns. Parish worship ed. with supplement #ad1

Laudate Hymnal and Choir Book #d2

Manual of Catholic Melodies #d2

Our Parish Prays and Sings #d2

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Peters' Sodality Hymn Book #80

Roman Hymnal, Complete edition #d2

St. Basil's Hymnal ... 10th ed. #d5

St. Basil's Hymnal. Rev. ed. #d3

St. Francis Hymnal and Choir Manual #d6

St. Joseph's Hymnal. 5th ed. #d2

The American Hymnal for Chapel Service #d5

The Catholic Hymnal and Service Book. Organ ed. #d4

The Catholic Hymnal and Service Book. Pew ed. #d4

The Choral Sodality Hand Book, Containing Hymns, Canticles and Litanies #d2

The New Saint Basil Hymnal #d2

The Pius X Hymnal #d6

The St. Cecilia Hymnal. 4th ed. #d3

The Sunday School Prayer and Hymn Book #d1

Exclude 67 pre-1979 instances
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