“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).
When this beloved hymn was written hy two humble church leaders for their own mountain village parishioners, little did they realize how universal its influence would eventually be.
On Christmas Eve 1818, the (German carol “Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!” was sung for the very first time in the tiny village of Oberndorf: eight miles north of Salzburg, Austria. The popularity of “Silent Night! Holy Night!” can almost he termed miraculous. There was no celebrities to sing at the world premiere and no mass communication system to spread the song’s fame. Yet its composer reported that the “simple composition … instantly met with approval.” It has since gone on to become one of the world’s most beloved carols.
We may never know the exact circumstances, but before that Christmas Eve service, the young pastor, Joseph Mohr, asked organist, Franz Gruber, to compose a tune to accompany his lyrics, a poem Mohr had written two years earlier. Around 1819, an organ builder from Fugen, named Carl Maraucher, heard about the carol when he was in Oberndorf. He liked the carol so much that he brought “Silent Night! Holy Night!” back with him to his hometown, and from there it spread all over the world, reaching American shores for the first time in 1839, when the Rainer singers from Austria performed it in New York City. Its powerful message of heavenly peace has crossed all borders and language barriers, having been translated into over three hundred languages. Now, nearly 200 years later, “Silent Night! Holy Night!” is an anchor for Christmas celebrations throughout the world.
This song reflects the spiritual joy of Joseph Mohr. May the real meaning of Christmas grip us this season as it did him.