December 12, 2021
John Francis Wade was hounded out of England in 1745. He was a Roman Catholic, and many Catholics were persecuted because of the Jacobite rebellion. Many fled to France.
How could Wade, as a refugee, support himself? In those days, the printing of musical scores was cumbersome. Copying them was an art form. Wade taught music at the Roman Catholic College and Ministry Center in Douay, France. He became a renowned copyist of musical scores.
At age 32, Wade produced a Latin Christmas carol called: Adeste Fidelis.
He passed away at age 75, and his obituary honored him for his beautiful manuscripts that adorned chapels and homes.
As time passed, English Catholics began returning to Britain and carried his Christmas carol with them. An Anglican minister found it and translated it into English: O Come All Ye Faithful. He later became a Roman Catholic.
So two Englishmen, both Catholics, loving Christmas and hymns, living hundreds of years apart, writing in two different countries, combined their talents to help us worship and adore Christ the Lord.
