John Francis Wade

John Francis Wade was an English Roman Catholic music copyist and hymn writer associated with eighteenth century Catholic devotional music. Born in England, he later lived in France after the Jacobite uprising of 1745. Wade worked as a music copyist, producing manuscripts of Catholic liturgical music and hymn texts. He is widely associated with the Latin hymn Adeste Fideles, though scholars differ regarding whether he composed the text, the melody, or simply copied an earlier version. The hymn later became widely known in English as O Come All Ye Faithful. Wade manuscripts played an important role in preserving Catholic devotional music during a period when Catholic worship faced restrictions in England.