Hope your Christmas has some much-needed silence and peace

It probably was a silent night over 2,000 years ago when Baby Jesus was born — at least until the heavenly host struck up the chorus.

Last week, I went caroling with my church and even though we had a book of about 34 carols I made sure we sang “Silent Night” at each of our stops. We also sang “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” at each place but only did the “Figgy Pudding” verse once.

In my mind there is no doubt that “Silent Night” is far and away the most popular Christmas song ever. Somehow, no matter how festive the occasion, when the carol is sung the crowd immediately becomes subdued, peaceful and reflective in a way that instills hope for all.

The origins of the song, if you don’t know them, are quite a story. It is set in the Salzburg region of Austria, not long after the Napoleonic Wars had devastated that region of the Alps. Times were hard and people were poor.

Joseph Mohr was born out of wedlock in 1792, the son of an embroiderer and a mercenary soldier who deserted his son. Things were so rough for the young man it is said the reputed “Last Hangman of Austria” became his godfather. But the baptism stuck and priests took an interest in his education and he eventually became a priest.

Mohr was serving as parish priest at the church at Oberndorf, north of Salzburg, in 1818 when he learned just shortly before the annual Christmas eve services were scheduled that the church’s organ was out of commission.

Did I mention that the church’s name was St. Nicholas or Nikolauskirche in German?

Some stories say that flooding of the nearby river damaged the organ and others say it was the work of rodents, either way, a traditional service of music was out.

This worried Mohr greatly and as he thought about the problem he remembered a poem he had written in 1816 after quiet spiritual reflection on a walk during a winter day.

He took the poem to Franz Gruber, a friend and composer, in the nearby village of Arnsdorf. He explained his plight and asked if he could compose a melody for the words that could be performed on guitar to accompany the choir.

Gruber came through and the pair introduced their new song that night to an appreciative group of parishioners.

The song was shared out into other Tyrolean villages and quickly became popular. Soon it was translated to other languages (now over 300) and was first performed in the U.S. in New York City in 1839. It was first recorded in 1905 and is the world’s most recorded Christmas song with over 137,000 known recordings.

One of the more remarkable stories behind the song is how it brought peace and fellowship to the trenches of World War I on Christmas eve 1914.

A cease fire had been declared in one of the most inhumane wars of all time and shortly before midnight the song’s melody pierced the cold night air. Soon it was being sung in German, English and French. The soldiers spent the cease fire time exchanging rations and relating to each other as humans with the common bond of a God who came to Earth in human form to save us from sin.

I hope your Christmas has some silence and peace. Our world needs all we can get.

Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

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