O Come, All Ye Faithful
The Adeste Fideles is the best-known hymn of the Catholic Christmas, probably composed by John Francis Wade, an English Catholic exile at Douai (18th c.). Sung at the Vigil and Mass of the Day of Christmas, at the entrance of the celebrant or at the adoration of the Christ Child.
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,
all glory in the highest.
See how the shepherds,
summoned to his cradle,
leaving their flocks, draw nigh with lowly fear;
we too with thankful hearts
haste to behold him.
Lo! star-led chieftains,
Magi, Christ adoring,
offer him incense, gold, and myrrh;
we to the Christ Child
bring our hearts’ oblations.
Child, for us sinners,
poor and in the manger,
we would embrace thee with love and awe;
who would not love thee,
loving us so dearly?
Yea, Lord, we greet thee,
born this happy morning,
Jesus, to thee be glory given!
Word of the Father,
now in flesh appearing. Amen.
In Latin
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.
Cantet nunc Io chorus angelorum,
cantet nunc aula cælestium:
gloria, gloria in excelsis Deo.
En grege relicto, humiles ad cunas
vocati pastores adproperant:
et nos ovanti gradu festinemus.
Æterni Parentis splendorem æternum,
velatum sub carne videbimus:
Deum infantem pannis involutum.
Pro nobis egenum et fœno cubantem,
piis foveamus amplexibus:
sic nos amantem quis non redamaret?
Ergo qui natus die hodierna,
Iesu, tibi sit gloria:
Patris æterni Verbum caro factum. Amen.