Then Sings My Soul...
O Come, All Ye Faithful (1743)
And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshiped him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Matthew 2: 11
John Francis Wade, author of this hymn, was hounded out of England in 1745. He was a Roman Catholic layman in Lancashire; but because of persecution arising from the Jacobite Rebellion, streams of Catholics fled to France and Portugal, where communities of English-speaking Catholics appeared.
But how could he, a refugee, support himself? In those days, the printing of musical scores was cumbersome, and copying them by hand was an art. In the famous Roman Catholic College and Ministry Center in Douay, France, Wade taught music and became renowned as a copyist of musical scores. His work was exquisite.
In 1743, Wade, 32 produced a copy of a Latin Christmas Carol beginning with the phrase Adeste Fidelis, Laeti truiumphantes. At one time historians believed he had simply discovered an ancient hymn by an unknown author, but most scholars now believe Wade himself composed the lyrics. Seven original hand-copied manuscripts of this Latin hymn have been found, all of them bearing waves signature.
John Wade passed away on August 16, 1786, at age 75. His obituary honored him for his “beautiful manuscripts” that adorned chapels and homes.
As time passed, English Catholics began returning to Britain, and they carried Wade’s Christmas carol with them. More time passed, and one day an Anglican minister named Reverend Frederick Oakeley, who preached at Margaret Street Chapel in London, came across Wade’s Latin Christmas carol. Being deeply moved, he translated it into English for Margaret Street Chapel. The first line of Oakeley’s translation said: “Ye faithful, Approach Ye.”
Somehow, “Ye Faithful, Approach Ye,” didn’t catch on, and several years later Oakeley tried again. By this time, Oakeley, too, was a Roman Catholic priest, having converted to Catholicism in 1845. Perhaps his grasp of Latin had improved, because as he repeated over and over the Latin phrase Adeste Fidelis, Laeti triumphantes he finally came up with a simpler, more vigorous O Come All Ye Faithful, Joyful and Triumphant!
So two brave Englishmen, Catholics, lovers of Christmas and lovers of hymns, living 100 years apart, writing in two different nations, combined their talents to bid us come, joyful and triumphant, and adore Him born the King of angels.
Oh come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord
Angels from the Realms of Glory (1816)
Praise Him, all his angels; Praise Him, all His hosts!Psalm 148: 2
Like all Moravians, John Montgomery had a burden for world evangelism. He was the only Moravian pastor in Scotland, but he and his wife felt God’s call to be missionaries to the island of Barbados. Tearfully placing their six-year-old son, James, in a Moravian settlement in Bracehill near Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland, they sailed away. James never saw them again, for they perished in Barbados.
Left with nothing, James was enrolled in a school in England. He didn’t do well, and he was apprenticed by school authorities to a baker. Baking wasn’t for James. He ran away and spent his teenage years drifting from pillar to post, writing poetry and trying his hand at one thing then another. He eventually settled down in Sheffield, England.
In his early 20s, James began working for the local newspaper, the Sheffield Register, and there he found his niche. He loved writing. It was a politically active newspaper, and when his owner had to suddenly flee the country to avoid persecution and imprisonment, James purchased the paper and renamed it the Sheffield Iris. His editorials, too, proved unpopular with local officials. On two separate occasions he was thrown into jail. But he emerged from prison a celebrity, and he used his newly acquired fame to promote his favorite issues.
Chief among them was the gospel. Despite the loss of his parents, James Montgomery remained devoted to Christ and to the Scriptures, and he championed the cause of foreign missions and of the British Bible Society.
As the years passed, he became the most respected leader in Sheffield, and his writings were eagerly read by its citizens. Early on Christmas Eve, 1816, James, 45, opened his Bible to Luke 2, and was deeply impressed by verse 13. Pondering the story of the heralding angels, he took his pen and started writing. By the end of the day, his new Christmas poem was being read in the pages of his newspaper. It was later set to music and was first sung on Christmas Day, 1821, in a Moravian church in England: Angels, from the Realms of Glory.
His parents would have been proud.
The Twelve Days of Christmas
A lovely version by the King's Singers and the Mormon Tabernacle choir. Click the link to hear this wonderful rendition.
The Twelve Days of Christmas - The King's Singers and The Tabernacle Choir
