The Birth of Christ

Representative Text

1 Hither, ye faithful, haste in songs of triumph,
To Bethlehem go, the Lord of life to meet;
To you this day is born a Prince and Saviour:
Oh, come, and let us worship at his feet!

2 O Jesus, for such wondrous condescension,
Our praise and reverence are an offering meet;
Now is the Word made flesh, and dwells among us;
Oh, come, and let us worship at his feet!

3 Shout his almighty name, ye choirs of angels:
Let the celestial courts his praise repeat;
Unto our God be glory in the highest;
Oh, come, and let us worship at his feet!

Source: The Voice of Praise: a collection of hymns for the use of the Methodist Church #153

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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 >

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Text Information

First Line: Hither, ye faithful, haste with songs of triumph
Title: The Birth of Christ
Latin Title: Adeste Fideles
Author: John Francis Wade
Meter: 11.11.11.11
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain
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Notes

Adeste fideles laeti triumphantes. [Christmas.] As to the authorship and actual date of this hymn nothing positive is known. It has been ascribed to St. Bonaventura, but is found in no edition of his Works. Most probably it is a hymn of the 17th or 18th century, and of French or German authorship. The text appears in three forms. The first is in 8 stanzas, the second, that in use in France, and the third the English use, both in Latin and English. The full text [is] from Thesaurus Animae Christianae, Mechlin, N.D. (where it is given as a second sequence for Christmas and said to be "Ex Graduali Cisterciensi"….

Translations in common use:—
16. Hither, ye faithful, haste with songs of triumph. In the American Presbyterian Psalms & Hymns Philadelphia, 1843, No. 174.

-- Excerpts from John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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Timeline

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Instances

Instances (1 - 3 of 3)

An American Christmas Harp #63

An American Christmas Harp #63
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The Cyber Hymnal #2449

The Cyber Hymnal #2449

The Sacred Harp #223

The Sacred Harp #223
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