Silent Night

Silent Night

She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them. Luke 2:7

On December 24, 1818, in the small village of Oberndorf, Austria, the whole town was preparing to come to the Christmas Eve service, the highlight of the season. But the parish priest, Father Joseph Mohr, was worried. The chapel organ was broken, and because of the heavy snowfall, the repairman from the next town could not get there to fix it. The service would be devoid of the beloved Christmas music.

For months Father Mohr had attempted to write a new song to express the simplicity and holiness of Christmas, but the words eluded him. That night, as he pondered what to do about the music, he saw someone struggling through the deep snow to get to his cabin. A woman stood before him explaining that a family from over the mountain asked him to come to their home that night to bless their first child, who’d just been born. Bundling up, the priest trudged through the snow. After several hours of walking, he came to the cabin and the most beautiful scene he had ever laid eyes on.

There was the new mother in her bed smiling, as she and the father looked in the little wooden crib that held their newborn son. Father Mohr admired the baby and blessed him and his parents. Then, as he walked home through the silent snow, he thought of how much the little family was like the one in Bethlehem centuries before, on the first Christmas night. The words to a new song flowed as joy filled Mohr’s heart, and as soon as he arrived home, he wrote them down. His friend, Franz Gruber, composed the tune to accompany the lyrics, and that evening “Silent Night” was heard for the first time by the congregation at Oberndorf, with Gruber playing a guitar as both men sang.

As you hear or sing this beloved carol this season, may the wonder of that first Christmas fill your heart. —CHERI

Lord, grant me the light of Christmas, which is faith; the warmth of Christmas, which is love; . . . the truth of Christmas, which is Christ. —WILDA ENGLISH

Silent night, holy night,

All is calm, all is bright

Round yon Virgin Mother and Child.

Holy Infant so tender and mild,

Sleep in heavenly peace,

Sleep in heavenly peace.

—JOSEPH MOHR (1792–1848), AUSTRIAN PRIEST AND COMPOSER

—FRANZ GRUBER (1787–1863), AUSTRIAN COMPOSER