O Come, All Ye Faithful
Words: John Francis Wade, c. 1743; tr. Frederick Oakeley, 1841 · Tune "Adeste Fideles" · Public domain
Verse 1
GO come, all ye Dfaithful, Gjoyful and triumphant,
DO come Gye, DO come Gye to Bethlehem;
DCome and Embehold CHim, Gborn the King of D7angels;
Refrain (sung after every verse)
GO come, let us adore Him,
DO come, let us Gadore Him,
GO come, let us D7adore Him, GChrist the Lord!
Verse 2
GSing, choirs of Dangels, sing in Gexultation,
GSing, Dall ye Dcitizens of Gheaven above;
DGlory Emto CGod, all Gglory in the D7highest;
Verse 3
GYea, Lord, we Dgreet Thee, born this Ghappy morning,
DJesus, Gto Thee Dbe all Gglory given;
DWord Emof the CFather, Gnow in flesh D7appearing;
Chords in the key of G
- G
- D
- Em
- C
- D7
About this hymn
- Words
- Latin original Adeste Fideles, attributed to John Francis Wade, c. 1743-1751; English translation by Frederick Oakeley, 1841
- Music
- ADESTE FIDELES, attributed to John Francis Wade
- Meter
- Irregular with refrain
- In
- 848 hymnals
- Scripture
- Luke 2:1-20, John 1:1-18, Philippians 2:9-11
The story
Nobody has settled who wrote this. John Francis Wade gets the credit on most hymnal pages, but John Reading, King John IV of Portugal, and anonymous Cistercian monks have all been proposed. The oldest source anyone can point to is a Wade manuscript dated 1751, held at Stonyhurst College in England, while Hymnary dates the Latin around 1743. The tune picked up the nickname Portuguese Hymn after the Duke of Leeds heard it at the Portuguese embassy chapel in London in 1795. Frederick Oakeley, an English Catholic priest, made the 1841 English version, and the text we sing combines his work with later verse translations by William Thomas Brooke.
Where it fits in a service
Often used as a processional on Christmas Eve or Christmas Sunday, and as an opening hymn in the last weeks of Advent. The refrain invites everybody in, so it carries a full room well.
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