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It was Christmas Eve, 1914, during the early months of World War I. When the Germans had left their country earlier in the year, they expected to be home by Christmas to celebrate their victory. The young men, however, were not home by Christmas and the war dragged on for four more years—and Europe, and the world, would never be the same again.

By December of 1914, trench warfare along the 200 mile front was proving to be a difficult and deadly form of battle. The trenches were...

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It was Christmas Eve, 1914, during the early months of World War I. When the Germans had left their country earlier in the year, they expected to be home by Christmas to celebrate their victory. The young men, however, were not home by Christmas and the war dragged on for four more years—and Europe, and the world, would never be the same again.

By December of 1914, trench warfare along the 200 mile front was proving to be a difficult and deadly form of battle. The trenches were filled with mud, vermin and death. Christmas of 1914 was particularly cold, freezing the slush and water of the trenches in which the men hunkered down.

But, on December 24, along the trenches of the western front, British and Scottish soldiers heard a startling sound—the sound of singing. And it was a song they instantly recognized, even if they did not understand the words. The song was Silent Night, or as the Germans sang it, Stille nacht, heilige nacht.

Shocked by this strange yet welcome sound, one by one, the English began singing "back" to the Germans their version of this beautiful melody. Soon, voices on both sides filled the air with the strains of Silent Night.

As they looked across to the enemy trenches, the Allies began to spot candles raised on poles or bayonets. And even more incredibly, the English officers reported that some enemy troops were holding Christmas trees over their heads. Soldiers from both sides, who had just hours before had been killing one another, tentatively began to emerge from their trenches and to venture into the dreaded "no man’s land" bringing good cheer and gifts from their kits—and to bury their dead.

Against all odds, a spontaneous, one day truce had begun; a truce that ignored all the rules of military conduct! Not everyone approved however. Some officers tried to discourage the "fraternization" and one Austrian soldier billeted near Ypres complained that in wartime such "an understanding should not be allowed." But, what would you expect from a soldier named Adolf Hitler?

As you sing Silent Night this year, think back to that terrible time at the beginning of the last century. Both sides had sung of Christ for hundreds of years, but still embarked on a war that would take the best and brightest of an entire generation. But yet, against all odds, God’s peace prevailed for a brief season.

I urge you to let God’s peace help you right now. Ask the Savior, the Babe of Bethlehem to work a miracle—to change your attitude or your circumstances. He will do it if, in faith, you ask Him. Jesus Christ came to bring peace—peace that displaces worry and fear. Peace with God. It’s the key to a truly happy life. And then, don’t forget to thank Him! (See Philippians 4:6,7)

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It was December 24, 1818, and in Oberndorf, Austria, the assistant priest went to the home of his friend, the organist of the small church. He brought the words of a poem that he had written two years earlier and asked him to write a tune to it, to use at the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass. The organist, Franz Xaver Gruber, reminded Fr. Joseph Mohr that the organ wasn’t working and so they would not be able to have music for the service. Fr. Mohr went in the other room and got a guitar. Gr...

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It was December 24, 1818, and in Oberndorf, Austria, the assistant priest went to the home of his friend, the organist of the small church. He brought the words of a poem that he had written two years earlier and asked him to write a tune to it, to use at the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass. The organist, Franz Xaver Gruber, reminded Fr. Joseph Mohr that the organ wasn’t working and so they would not be able to have music for the service. Fr. Mohr went in the other room and got a guitar. Gruber strummed a few chords, then started humming. He exclaimed, "The song, it sings itself." A few hours later, he had composed the tune, and the two men presented the carol for the first time that Christmas Eve.

When the organ repairman, Carl Mauracher, later heard the carol, he took a copy of it with him. He presented it to two groups of traveling singers, who then performed it in their Christmas repertoire, and thus it began its journey around the world. The Strasser and Rainer families traveled and performed all over Europe, and they sang "the Tyrolian folk carol". The Rainer family brought the carol to the United States, first performing it in German in New York City in 1839.

A publisher heard the carol sung near Innsbruck, Austria around 1832. He liked it and published it for the first time, claiming the source to be a "Tyrolian folk song." The songwriters were not known at that time, and the tune had been changed somewhat from the original. That printed version is the melody that is still widely sung. However, in 1995 a copy of "Silent Night" was found, written in Fr. Joseph Mohr’s own hand, which gives the origin of this carol, along with proof of its creators.

"Silent Night was translated into English in 1863. Who translated it is not clear, John Young is reported by some to have translated stanzas 1 and 3. Jane Campbell also could have translated it. It was first published in an American hymnal, Charles Hutchins’ Sunday School Hymnal.

"Silent Night" has been translated into nearly every language on earth. We, in the U.S. hear it early and often in the Christmas season, but the people of Austria consider it a national treasure, with an organization formed to protect it from commercialization, and to convince people to learn the original melody. A visitor to Austria can visit museums and memorials in Oberndorf and other places significant to this carol.

There are many stories of the origin of this carol, that the organ didn’t work due to mice nibbling at the bellows, or that, due to frequent flooding in the church, the organ had rust and mildew in the workings. It was even suggested that Gruber himself had something to do with the organ not working, due to strife between Fr. Mohr and a traditionalist priest recently assigned to the church. Mohr, with the previous priest, had arranged mixed German-Latin masses, which the people appreciated, as they could finally understand what was being said in church. The new priest, sent by a disapproving archiepiscopal consistory, rejected the use of German in the church and brought back the traditional mass. However, with the organ out of commission, the priest was forced to accept the alternative service with the guitar rather than not have music on Christmas Eve.

Whatever the circumstance, the world is grateful to the two friends who gave us this simple, yet beautiful picture of the night that Christ was born.

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