Adeste, fideles

Come, all ye faithful

The Hymns of the Breviary and Missal

   Adeste, fideles,
   Læti triumphantes;
Venite, venite in Bethlehem;
   Natum videte
   Regem Angelorum:
   Venite adoremus,
   Venite adoremus,
Venite adoremus Dominum.
   Deum de Deo,
   Lumen de lumine,
Gestant puellæ viscera:
   Deum verum,
   Genitum, non factum:
Venite adoremus Dominum.
   Cantet nunc Io!
   Chorus angelorum:
Cantet nunc aula clestium,
   Gloria
   In excelsis Deo!
Venite adoremus Dominum.
   Ergo qui natus
   Die hodierna,
Jesu tibi sit gloria:
   Patris æterni
   Verbum caro factum!
   Venite adoremus,
   Venite adoremus,
Venite adoremus Dominum.

   Come, all ye faithful,
   Joyful and triumphant,
O hasten, O hasten to Bethlehem;
   See in a manger
   The Monarch of Angels.
   O come let us worship
   Christ the Lord.
   God of God eternal,
   Light from Light proceeding,
He deigns in the Virgins womb to lie;
   Very God of very God,
   Begotten, not created.
   O come, etc.
   Sing alleluia,
   All ye choirs of Angels;
Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above,
   Glory to God
   In the highest.
   O come, etc.
   Yea, Lord, we greet Thee,
   Born this happy morning;
To Thee, O Jesus, be glory given;
   True Word of the Father,
   In our flesh appearing.
   O come let us worship
   Christ the Lord.

Author: unknown. 18th cent. Translation by Canon Oakeley. There are forty translations. The complete hymn consists of eight stanzas, four of which are commonly used at Benediction during Christmastide. There are four translations of this hymn in Mr. Shipley’s Annus Sanctus; the one by J. C. Earle is a translation of the complete hymn. The Adeste Fideles is not found in the Breviary or Missal. It is a beautiful invitation to the faithful “to come to Bethlehem” in spirit, and worship the new-born Saviour.

“With the exception of the Dies Iræ and the Stabat Mater,” says W. J. Grattan-Flood, Mus.D., “it is doubtful if there is a more popular hymn in our churches than the Adeste Fideles” (The Dolphin, Dec., 1905). The above translation is literal. In l. 15, Io is an interj. Expressing great joy. Line 17, aula cœlestium, the court of the blessed, the heavenly court.