# Adeste Fideles

* related portals: Song lyrics, Hymns, Christmas.
* sister projects: Wikipedia article, Commons category, Wikidata item.
This carol has been attributed to various authors, including John Francis Wade (1711–1786), with the earliest copies of the hymn all bearing his signature, John Reading (1645–1692) and King John IV of Portugal (1604–1656).
   As to the authorship and actual date of this hymn nothing positive is known. Most probably it is a hymn of the 17th or 18th century, and of French or German authorship. As early as 1797 the hymn was sung at the Chapel of the Portuguese Embassy, of which Vincent Novello was organist and the tune (ascribed by Novello to John Reading, organist of Winchester Cathedral, 1675-1681, and of the College to 1692) at once became popular. [...] It has been translated many times into English and other languages, with at least sixteen translations in common usage. The most popular of these arrangements begin with Frederick Oakeley's opening of: "O come all ye faithful, joyfully triumphant", or, alternatively, with the second line reading "Joyful and triumphant". Additionally there are around another dozen published translations not in the common usage.
   —"Adeste fideles laeti triumphantes," by William Thomas Brooke in A Dictionary of Hymnology, (ed.) by John Julian (1892)
English-language translations of Adeste Fideles include:
* "Draw Near, Ye Faithful Christians", anonymous translation, 1760
* "Come, Faithful All, Rejoice and Sing", anonymous translation, 1789
* "Hither, Ye Faithful, Haste With Songs of Triumph", anonymous translation, 1804
* "Hither, ye faithful, haste with songs of triumph"
* "Ye Faithful, Come, Triumphant Come", anonymous translation, 1805
* "Believers Assemble, Come With Songs To Bethlem", anonymous translation, 1807
* "Raise We Our Voices to the Lord of Glory", anonymous translation, 1808
* "Exulting, Triumphing, Come From Every Nation", anonymous translation, c. 1820
* "Ye Faithful, Triumphant Enter Into Bethlehem", anonymous translation, 1820
* "Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful, Joyful Triumph Raising" by Basil Woodd, 1821
* "Oh! Come Ye Faithful, And Your Homage Bring" by John Chandler, 1821
* "With Hearts Truly Grateful", anonymous translation, 1830
* "O Come All Ye Faithful, Raise the Hymn of Glory" by Frederick Charles Husenbeth, 1840
* "Ye Faithful, Approach Ye" by Frederick Oakeley, 1841
* "Ye Faithful Souls, Approach and Sing" by J. Meade, 1841
* "Approach, All Ye Faithful" by "C.", 1845
* "Approach, Ye Faithful, Come With Exultation" by Jane Eliza Leeson, 1848
* "Approach, Ye Faithful, And With Glad Accord" by Jane Eliza Leeson, 1848
* "Hasten, Ye Faithful, Glad, Joyful, and Holy" by J. R. Beste, 1849
* "Oh, Come! All Ye Faithful!" by Edward Caswall, 1849
** "Come Hither, Ye Faithful", anonymous adaptation, 1870
* "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful" by Robert Campbell, 1850
* "O Come, All Ye Faithful" by Gilbert Rorison, 1851
* "O Come, All Ye Faithful" by James Aitken Johnston, 1852
* "O Come All Ye Faithful" by Frederick Oakeley, 1852. By far the most popular translation.
** "O Come, All Ye Faithful", adaptation by William Mercer, 1854
** "O Come, All Ye Faithful", adaptation by Robert Prescott Stewart, 1889
* "Ye Faithful, Approach Ye" by William John Blew, 1852
* "Come, All Ye Faithful, Joyfully Triumphant", anonymous translation, 1853
* "O Christian People Come" by Isaac Gregory Smith, 1856
* "Be Present, Ye Faithful" by John Mason Neale, 1858
** "Be Present, Ye Faithful", adaptation by Richard Robert Chope, 1854
** "Draw Nigh, All Ye Faithful", adaptation by John Keble, 1857
* "Assemble, Ye Faithful" by Thomas Darling, 1861
* "O hie, ye believers, raise the song of triumph" by Francis Trappes, 1865
* "Draw Near, All Ye Faithful" by Robert Corbet Singleton, 1871
* "O Come All Ye Faithful" by John Ellerton, 1871
* "Hither, Ye Faithful, Adoring, Triumphant" by Thomas Osgood Summers, 1874
* "In Triumph, Joy, and Holy Fear" by J. C. Earle, 1881
* "Come, O Faithful, With Sweet Voices" by Charles Kent, 1884
* "O Come, All Ye Faithful", anonymous translation, 1884
* "Ye Faithful, Come Rejoice and Sing", anonymous translation, 1890
* "O Come, All Ye Faithful" by J. O'Connor, 1905
* "O Come, All Ye Faithful", anonymous translation, 1907
* "Come, All Ye Faithful, Join The March Triumphant", anonymous translation, 1913
* "Ye Faithful, With Gladness" by Hugh Thomas Henry, c. 1920

## As a hymn tune

Versions of the hymn tune for Adeste Fideles include:
* "Adeste fideles" in The University Hymn Book, 1912
* "How Firm a Foundation" in The Army and Navy Hymnal, 1920
* "O Come, All Ye Faithful" in The Army and Navy Hymnal, 1920

## See also

* "Adeste Fideles," in Catholic Encyclopedia, (ed.) by Charles G. Herbermann and others, New York: The Encyclopaedia Press (1913)
* "Adeste fideles laeti triumphantes," in A Dictionary of Hymnology, (ed.) by John Julian (1892)