As a young child, my family attended a local Lutheran church. Christmas Eve practices and memorization of a passage for the Christmas Eve program was yearly ritual. All through those years, we sang Christmas hymns and carols during Advent. I don't think I ever got tired of singing the songs of Christmas. One of those songs was "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:
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:
Sing, choirs of angels,
Sing in exultation,
Sing, all ye citizens of Heaven above!
Glory to God
In the highest:
Yea, Lord, we greet thee,
Born this happy morning;
Jesus, to thee be glory given!
Word of the Father,
Now in flesh appearing!
Many of you may know this, but this song had its origin in the Middle ages. The legend is that an Italian Franciscan Priest, Bonaventura - whose name was given to him as a consequence of divine healing and his expression, "O Buona Ventura"- O good fortune! - who studied the brilliant, Thomas Aquinas, wrote this song in Latin entitled "Adeste Fideles".
Singing the song in Latin as a young boy was my first introduction to Latin - a language I've grown to love. Singing O Come All Ye Faithful was a treat in English, but in Latin, it is smooth, and wonderful.
Adeste fideles laeti triumphantes,
Venite, venite in Bethlehem.
Natum videte Regem angelorum.
Venite adoremus
Dominum.
O Come All Ye Faithful, along with Joy to the World, are the most widely published and sung, Christmas carols in the world, having been translated into over 150 languages.
O Come All Ye Faithful remained relatively unknown until an English priest, John Francis Wade, who in 1745 was caught in a bloody war between England and Scotland known as the Jacobite Rebellion, fled England to France to avoid prison or death. France was overrun with English Catholics who fled the conflicts, but it gave Wade the opportunity to research historical church music. During this time Wade composed and completed in 1760, the Middle Age, Adeste Fideles keeping the original Latin.
O Come All Ye Faithful remained relatively unknown until an English priest, John Francis Wade, who in 1745 was caught in a bloody war between England and Scotland known as the Jacobite Rebellion, fled England to France to avoid prison or death. France was overrun with English Catholics who fled the conflicts, but it gave Wade the opportunity to research historical church music. During this time Wade composed and completed in 1760, the Middle Age, Adeste Fideles keeping the original Latin.
It remained isolated in the French Catholic church songs until 1841, when an Englishman, Frederrick Oakeley translated the Latin melody into English. Still largely unknown, another Englishman, John Redding, re-worked the melody and it was performed publicly in the Portuguese embassy. For a time Redding claimed to be the author and it was renamed the "Portuguese Hymn".
Although the truth of authorship and composer would eventually return John Francis Wade as the author of the song. The song began to catch on, and around 1900 O Come All Ye Faithful was a part of most denominational hymnals - sung in churches both Catholic and Protestant.
The song belongs to Advent because it reminds us of the glory of Christ Jesus' birth and theologically and profoundly makes us aware - much like the ancient creeds do - that Jesus Christ came from the Father's throne, as one with the Father and the Holy Spirit:
God of God, Light of Light,
Lo, he abhors not the Virgin’s womb;
Very God, Begotten, not created:
Created during a period of world war, it reminds us that our God is still over all.
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