John Francis Wade (1 January 1711 – 16 August 1786) was an English hymnist who is usually credited with writing and composing the

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' d ...

" Adeste Fideles" (which was translated as "

O Come All Ye Faithful "O Come, All Ye Faithful", also known as "", is a Christmas carol that has been attributed to various authors, including John Francis Wade (1711–1786), John Reading (1645–1692), King John IV of Portugal (1604–1656), and anonymous Ciste ...

" in 1841 by Frederick Oakeley). The authorship is disputed, with 13th-century cardinal St. Bonaventure and

King John IV of Portugal '' Dom'' John IV (; 19 March 1604 – 6 November 1656), also known by the Portuguese as John the Restorer (), was the King of Portugal from 1640 until his death in 1656. He restored the independence of Portugal from Habsburg Spanish rule by ter ...

being proposed as alternative composers, although the earliest known manuscripts of the hymn discovered from 1946 all bear Wade's signature. Others argue for John Reading () or anonymous

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

monks. Wade fled to France after the

Jacobite rising of 1745 The Jacobite rising of 1745 was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the Monarchy of Great Britain, British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. It took place during the War of the Austrian Succession, when the bulk of t ...

was crushed. As a Catholic layman, he lived with exiled English Catholics in France, where he taught music and worked on church music for private use.

Jacobite symbolism

Bennett Zon, Editor of the ''Yale Journal of Music and Religion'', has noted that Wade's Roman Catholic

liturgical Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

books were often decorated with Jacobite floral imagery. He argued that the texts had coded Jacobite meanings. He has suggested that the hymn "Adeste Fideles" is a birth ode to

Bonnie Prince Charlie Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart (31 December 1720 – 30 January 1788) was the elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart, making him the grandson of James VII and II, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, ...

, replete with secret references decipherable by the "faithful": the followers of the Pretender,

James Francis Edward Stuart James Francis Edward Stuart (10 June 16881 January 1766), nicknamed the Old Pretender by Whigs (British political party), Whigs or the King over the Water by Jacobitism, Jacobites, was the House of Stuart claimant to the thrones of Ki ...

References

External links

* * * * * * Biography and works at th
Cyber Hymnal
1711 births 1786 deaths 18th-century Roman Catholics English hymnwriters English Roman Catholics 18th-century English people {{UK-composer-stub