«ADESTE, FIDELES». - A delightful rhymed hymn, recounting the visit of the shepherds to the newborn Saviour and inviting the faithful to hasten to Bethlehem to adore the Word made flesh under the appearance of a child. It is sung during the Christmas season. It is of Irish origin, from the 17th century, and is attributed, without any foundation whatsoever, to St Bonaventure. Some passages would seem to have been taken from an older Cistercian gradual (15th or 16th century), and the melody from a Portuguese sailors’ song. Abbé de Borderies, exiled in England during the French Revolution, brought back to France the first stanza and composed the other three: En grege relicto, Aeterni parentis, and Pro nobis egenum. Having returned to France and been elected bishop of Versailles, he introduced the hymn into the vesperal of his diocese, whence it spread throughout France and into many other nations.
Adeste Fideles
BIBL.: J. Julian, s. V. in Dictionary of Hymnology, 2e ed., Londra 1907; A. Molien, La Prière de l'Église, II, Parigi 1924, p. 151. Celestino Testore
Cite this article
“ADESTE, FIDELES.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. I (1948), p. 204. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/adeste-fideles.