«ADESTE, FIDELES». — A delightful hymn that recounts the shepherds’ visit to the newborn Saviour and invites the faithful to hasten to Bethlehem to adore the Word made flesh in the form of a child. It is sung during the Christmas season. Of Irish origin, it dates from the 17th century and has been attributed, without any foundation, to St. Bonaventure. Some features seem to have been drawn from an older Cistercian gradual (15th or 16th century), and the melody from a Portuguese sea shanty. The abbot de Borderies, exiled in England during the French Revolution, brought back the first stanza to France and composed the remaining three: *En grege relicto*, *Aeterni parentis*, and *Pro nobis egenum*. Upon his return to France and his election as bishop of Versailles, he introduced the hymn into the vesperal of his diocese, whence it spread throughout France and many other nations.
ADEOPATO I - Seal of ADEOPATO I