THE ' ADESTE FIDELES

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 51, 21 December 1905, Page 15

THE ' ADESTE FIDELES

As the 'Adeste Fideles' is sung until Candlemas Day, February 2, this word about its origin will be interesting :—: — Individual authorship the 'Adeste Fideles' may not have had. The atmosphere of the monastic scriptorum breathes, however, through its melodious strophes. It is in many respects unique in Christian hymnology. More than any other church song it blends prophecy, history, prayer, exultation, and praise. If it were printed side by side with the Nicene Creed it would be found an astonishing versification of that august prose. Every line of the 'Adeste' is a casket of faith and love. Upon its cadences many hours must have been spent for the crystallisation of sublime truth into crisp and dazzling syllables. ' Adeste,' approach ; ' fideles,' ye faithful ; ' laeti,' joyful ; ' triumphantes,' victorious; ' venite,' come; ' adoremus,' let us adore ; ' Dominum,' the Lord. The hymn was sung on the Continent in the Latin form, which was so musical that it is memorised almost without effort. It is found continuously from the middle of the seventeenth century. It is believed that in many centres of devotion it was made also a recitation as if in oratorio. Plays drawn from Holy Writ were in vogue during the same period, and the 'Adeste Fideles' would have been a congruous incident in either a Passion play, a miracle play, or a Madonna play. It was usual in those plays to introduce the folk melodies which in every country have become the basis of the national music. As these plays were gradually prohibited by the Church on account of violations of strict decorum which insensibly crept in, oratorio succeeded to the vacated place, and many of the melodies disappeared or were framed into new settings.