THE CAROL THAT PAUSED TWO WARS By Mary Davis

By Mary Davis

On Christmas 1914, in Europe, the guns went silent and voices in German, French, and English rose in the stillness singing Silent Night. For a short time, enemies found common ground in a nearly one-hundred-year-old carol.

 

ChristmasTruce1914

But long before WW1, another set of enemies set aside their weapons to sing Silent Night. During the US Civil War, the Union and Confederate troops halted fighting on Christmas day each year and could be heard singing this holiday classic. If only the soldiers on both sides of these wars could have held onto that brief peace after the last strains had been sung.

 

If Father Josef Mohr, of Austria, had known the power of his simple poem, he might not have tucked it away for two years, only to be brought out because of a Christmas crisis.

 

Stained-glass rendering of Mohr

In 1816, in the aftermath of the Napoleonic war, Mohr was in Mariapfarr, Austria. Appreciating the quiet after the war, he penned a six-stanza poem titled Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht. A year later, he was transferred to Saint Nicholas parish in Oberndorf in the state of Salzburg in Austria. Then in 1818, after the Salzach River had flooded, the head priest tasked young Mohr with putting together the Christmas Eve midnight service. Mohr was thrilled to finally be given some responsibility.

 

He put the program together with the hymns the choir had practiced. On Christmas Eve day, Mohr went to the church to make sure everything was in order. As an afterthought, he sat at the organ to play through the songs to be sung. The instrument didn’t make a peep, probably damaged by the flood. He tried everything he knew to get it to utter a note, but nothing worked. How could they have a Christmas Eve service without music?

 

Author Photo

Mohr braved the snowy streets by walking three kilometers to a nearby town to get help from a friend, Franz Xaver Gruber, schoolmaster and organist. Gruber was at a loss for what to do but offered to play his guitar during the service. Though the idea had merit, none of the pieces the choir had practiced would work with a guitar. Then, inspiration struck. Mohr remembered his poem, and if Gruber could put it to music, it could be played on guitar and sung.

 

Gruber

The young priest hurried home, found the poem, and returned. Gruber created a melody to fit the words. Mohr singing tenor and Gruber bass with accompaniment of the guitar along with the congregation joining in on the chorus saved the service in the little church.

 

Silent Night might have faded into the darkness of future silent nights if not for the broken organ. In January 1819, organ repairman Karl Mauracher came to Saint Nicholas. Mohr shared the story of having to use a guitar. Mauracher asked him to sing it. Impressed by the tune, Mauracher wrote down the words and learned the melody and took them back with him to the Ziller Valley. He then taught it to churches all across Europe. Thousands of choirs were singing it within a decade.

 

In 1832, the song was performed at a fair. In attendance was King William IV of Prussia. So moved by the piece, he insisted it be sung at his annual Christmas celebration.

 

Seven years later, this moving carol traveled across the ocean to the United States by way of the Rainer singing group who performed it at Trinity Church in New York. Silent Night became America’s favorite Christmas carol within a decade. From there, it has been recorded by numerous singers and groups.

 

Though today, we sing Silent Night slow and reflective, the original arrangement was at a more rapid tempo.

 

Silent Night Music-circa1820

Our contemporary version consists of stanzas 1, 6, and 2. Here are all six verses as translated from Mohr’s original, found on https://silent-night-museum.org/sounds/lyrics.htm. You may notice that some of the words are different. Modern translators changed some of the words to make it more relatable to people.

 

Silent Night! Holy Night!

All is calm, all is bright

Round yon godly tender pair

Holy infant with curly hair

Sleep in heavenly peace

Sleep in heavenly peace.

 

Silent Night! Holy Night!

Son of God, love's pure light

Radiant beams from thy holy face

With the dawn of redeeming grace

Jesus, Lord at thy birth

Jesus, Lord at thy birth.

 

Silent Night! Holy Night!

Brought the world gracious light

Down from heaven's golden height

Comes to us the glorious sight:

Jesus, as one of mankind

Jesus, as one of mankind.

 

Silent Night! Holy Night!

By his love, by his might

God our Father us has graced

As a brother gently embraced

Jesus, all nations on earth

Jesus, all nations on earth.

 

Silent Night! Holy Night!

Long ago, minding our plight

God the world from misery freed

In the dark age of our fathers decreed:

All the world is redeemed

All the world is redeemed.

 

Silent Night! Holy Night!

Shepherds first saw the sight

Of angels singing alleluia

Calling clearly near and far:

Christ, the saviour is born

Christ the Saviour is born.

 

I find it fitting that a poem/song that was penned in the aftermath of one war brought temporary peace during two other wars. And if not for a broken organ, it may have remained in Mohr’s bottom desk drawer, forgotten.

 

Merry Christmas!

 

 
MRS. WITHERSPOON GOES TO WAR (Heroines of WWII series)
3rd Place 2023 SELAH Award

A WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) flies a secret mission to rescue three soldiers held captive in Cuba.

Margaret “Peggy” Witherspoon is a thirty-four-year-old widow, mother of two daughters, an excellent pilot, and very patriotic. She joins the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots). As she performs various tasks like ferry aircraft, transporting cargo, and being an airplane mechanic, she meets and develops feelings for her supervisor Army Air Corp Major Howie Berg. When Peggy learns of U.S. soldiers being held captive in Cuba, she, Major Berg, and two fellow WASPs devise an unsanctioned mission to rescue them. With Cuba being an ally in the war, they must be careful not to ignite an international incident. Order HERE!

MARY DAVIS, bestselling, award-winning novelist, has over thirty titles in both historical and contemporary themes. Her latest release is THE LADY’S MISSION. Her other novels include THE DÉBUTANTE'S SECRET (Quilting Circle Book 4) THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (The Quilting Circle Book 3) is a SELAH Award Winner. Some of her other recent titles include; THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT, THE DAUGHTER'S PREDICAMENT, “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in The MISSAdventure Brides Collection, Prodigal Daughters Amish series, "Holly and Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection, and "Bygones" in Thimbles and Threads. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of thirty-seven years and one cat. She has three adult children and three incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at: Books2Read Newsletter Blog FB FB Readers Group Amazon GoodReads BookBub

Sources

Stories Behind The Greatest Hits Of Christmas, by Ace Collins

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/silent-night-celebrates-its-bicentennial-180971044/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Night

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/the-history-behind-silent-night/

https://americansongwriter.com/behind-meaning-of-the-christmas-carol-silent-night/

https://theconversation.com/silent-night-the-story-of-the-carol-that-paused-a-war-108692

https://silent-night-museum.org/sounds/lyrics.htm

Silent Night Memorial Chapel

On the expansive, cheerful grounds of Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, Michigan, sits a peaceful white chapel, with a domed roof, reminiscent of its Austrian roots. The small building is a 1:1 scale replica of the Silent Night Memorial Chapel in Oberndorf, Austria. The Austrian chapel commemorates the spot where the much beloved Christmas song, “Silent Night” was first sung.

Silent Night Chapel - Oberndorf, Austria

 "Chapel2" by No machine-readable author provided. Gakuro assumed (based on copyright claims). CC 

The story has been told that the organ in the Tyrolean parish of St. Nicholas was broken. The assistant priest, Fr. Joseph Mohr, had written a poem which became the song’s lyrics. He asked his friend, the local schoolteacher and organist, Franz Xaver Gruber, to create a tune to go with his words. Gruber composed the music for “Silent Night” on Christmas Eve of 1818. Mohr played the guitar and the two men sang the song together that evening.

Musicians carried the song with them through Europe and eventually to America. The beautiful song has been translated into many languages, possibly more than any other Christmas hymn.

Old St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, Austria

"Stnikola" by No machine-readable author provided. Gakuro assumed (based on copyright claims). CC    

Due to damages from floodwaters, a new St. Nicholas church was built on higher ground in 1906. In 1937, the little Silent Night Chapel was erected and dedicated in commemoration of the origin of the favorite song.

In 1976, Wally Bronner was on a buying trip for his Christmas Wonderland, when he visited the tranquil little Austrian chapel and decided building a replica would be a good way to show his thankfulness to God for the many blessings in his life. Wally had always desired to keep Christ in CHRISTmas with his store filled with Christmas decorations and nativity scenes. The sparkling, cheery environment at Bronner’s has been for many years a delight to the eyes and the heart.

With permission from Oberndorf’s city officials, the Bronners built a replica of the octagonal white chapel. Construction began in 1992 and the dedication took place later that year.

Silent Night Memorial Chapel - Frankenmuth, MI
mdprovost, 2008, CC

I can only describe visiting the Silent Night Chapel as a reverent experience. The diminutive place of worship inspires quiet meditation and prayer.

Wally Bronner sought to honor God, but also has shared with visitors a piece of history, a place to remember the origins of our beloved Christmas hymn, “Silent Night.” And perhaps, for a minute, give people a touch of what it would have been like to experience the first time it was sung in that Austrian parish nearly 200 years ago.

Merry Christmas! I'm giving away a copy of Christmas Treasures, an inspirational Christmas story anthology, to one lucky commenter! 

Kathleen Rouser was so enthralled with books, she wanted to write stories before she could read them. A past homeschooling mom and mild-mannered dental assistant, Kathleen writes from her home in Michigan, where she lives with her husband of 34 years, who not only listens to her stories, but also cooks for her. And let’s not forget her resident muse is a sassy tail-less cat named Lilybits.

Her debut novel, Rumors and Promises, from Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas, is coming out in April, 2016. Christmas Treasures contains Kathleen’s short story, “Special Assignment,” with a touch of humor and the supernatural.