Advent Week 2 - Joy!

O Come, All Ye  Faithful   #234 Verse 1 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.

No one knows for sure who wrote the original Latin poem that became this beloved hymn.  Various theories from St. Bonaventura to an anonymous 17th century French poet have been considered.  Our hymnal follows the modern pattern of crediting John Wade, an Englishman living and working in a Roman Catholic religious community in Douay, France, as the translator of the poem which appeared in a 1751 book by Wade.  Jesuit priests later brought the song with them when they moved to England after the French Revolution. The first published appearance of the tune that we use today was in Samuel Webbe’s, “Essay on Church Plan Chant” published...continue reading