Fans of books like The Da Vinci Code will appreciate the story behind the Christmas carol “O Come, All Ye Faithful.”
Originally written in Latin as “Adeste Fideles,” the origins of the piece are tantalizingly obscure. The lyrics may have originated in the thirteenth century, or they may have been written in the seventeenth century by a Portuguese king. But the best claim to authorship is held by the man who first published the hymn. John Francis Wade, a Jacobite sympathizer in exile in France, published his Cantus Diversi, including “Adeste Fidelus,” in 1751.
A supporter of Bonnie Prince Charlie, who attempted to capture the British crown in 1745, Wade decorated his manuscript with imagery that held significance for the Jacobite “faithful.”
According to the theory, “Bethlehem” was a well-known code word for England, and angelorum (“angels” in the hymn) would be replaced with Anglorum, meaning “English.” So “born the king of angels” became “born the king of the English.”
It is always possible that the song had a hidden meaning, but it’s more likely that Wade, who also wrote other hymns, was a man of God celebrating the birth of his Savior.
Frederick Oakley, a canon at Westminster Cathedral, translated the first four verses into English, and William Brooke, a hymn writer, completed the job. The version modern carolers would recognize as “O Come, All Ye Faithful” appeared first in Murray’s Hymnal in 1852. Since then it has been translated into more than 125 other languages.
Any political dimension, if there ever was one, has long since been rendered obsolete, and the song remains a firm favorite among the real faithful at Christmas.
So all the ingredients for a mystery are there … or are they? And even if the conspiracy theory was true, it wouldn’t be the first time God had taken something worldly and turned it into something sublime.
This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
EPHESIANS 5:32