O come all ye faithful (Adeste Fideles)

O Come all ye Faithful (NOBC 70) is a translation by Rev. Frederick Oakeley in 1841 of the original Latin hymn ‘Adeste Fideles’, whose authorship has been disputed but which many scholars now attribute to John Francis Wade, as composer of both words and music.¹ As a catholic, Wade (c1711-1786) later moved in exile to Douai in northern France in 1745 and worked as a teacher and music copyist, particularly of Gregorian plainchant. Oakeley (1802-80) was an Anglican priest, who converted to Catholicism in 1845 and was a strong advocate of the Oxford Movement.