December 23 

Silent Night! Holy Night! 

TEXT: Joseph Mohr

b. December 11, 1792, Salzburg, Austria

d. December 4, 1848, Wagrain, Austria

Joseph Mohr grew up in poverty, living with his mother and grandmother. His father, a soldier, was absent from his life. The choirmaster of his church saw potential in Joseph and served as his foster father. He saw to it that Joseph, an honor student, was well educated. Joseph went on to be ordained as a priest in 1815 and became a beloved pastor in several parishes throughout Austria. When he died, he was as poor as he had been as a child, having given away his money to educate the children and care for the elderly of his parish. Today, the Joseph Mohr School, a memorial from the townspeople, stands in the Alpine village of Wagrain, Austria, his last parish and burial place. Only a year after his ordination, Mohr wrote a poem while at his first parish at Mariapfarr, titled “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht.” The Napoleonic wars had divided the country. A time of peace and calm was desperately needed.

TUNE: Franz Gruber

b. November 25, 1787, Unterweizberg, Austria

d. June 7, 1863, Hallein, Austria

Two years later, Mohr was serving in Oberndorf where Franz Gruber was organist. Legend says that Mohr asked Gruber to write the tune for guitar because the church organ was broken. Although the broken organ theory has not been proven, the fact that it was a simple tune for guitar accompaniment is undisputed. It can be played with only three chords. It was first performed on December 24, 1818, for the midnight mass. STILLE NACHT is, of course, composed of the first two words of the song.

As you sing this hymn … do so quietly and calmly. Have you ever been present at the birth of a baby? It can be an atmosphere of hurry, nervousness, and even panic. But this carol paints a different picture of the birth of Jesus. The music portrays a calm, silent night. Why? Not because Mohr or Gruber knew that Jesus’ birth was particularly peaceful, but because Jesus’ birth alone would bring true peace to the world. The shepherds certainly had some excitement—“shepherds quake at the sight” and “they came with haste” (KJV). But we picture complete serenity and calm when they entered the stable.

Do you have difficulty finding silence and quiet? A friend tells of his annual hunting trip into the deep woods of upper Michigan. But he just purposes to sit perfectly still on a stump for long hours of quiet and simply watch the deer and the surrounding nature—an extended time to meditate and pray. Such silence is so absent in our lives in this noisy world.

Do you have a “silent night” in your Christmas? Do you see the “radiant beams from [His] holy face” because you have taken time to stop and look? Even in a noisy world, true peace and calm will come to those who know the baby Jesus as Lord and Savior. Psalm 131:2 gives us the picture: “I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.” Because this carol is so closely associated with its German origin, the first stanza is given in German—a great reminder of the global love for the Christmas story.