(Post by: Lilly Hobbs) Blogmas Day Five 2024
It was December 24th, 1818, in Oberndorf, Austria when a gentle song went forth from a Christmas midnight mass. The Napoleonic wars had just ended in 1815, after nearly 20 years of fighting. Borders had been redrawn throughout Europe in order to comply with the Congress of Vienna.
Living in the small village of Mariapfarr in Salzburg’s Lungau region, was a man by the name of Joseph Mohr. Mohr was an assistant priest and was living in Mariapfarr during the withdrawal of Bavarian troops in 1816 and 1817 (Collins, 2024).
Mohr witnessed the devastating employment and economic loss the people had experienced during the wars as he served as a village priest and was intimately connected to many of the villagers. The war resulted in such a decline that left area boat builders, laborers, and transportation companies without work, leaving people hopeless and poor.
Mohr longed for a safe and peaceful world.
It was in 1816, after witnessing the devastation and the state of many people’s souls that he wrote a simple, but moving poem which he titled, “Stille Nacht.” For the first two years of its existence, Mohr’s poem remained just a poem, until he took the position of assistant priest for the St. Nicholas parish in Oberndorf, a village 11 miles outside of the city of Salzburg, and was introduced to the parish organist, a man by the name of Franz Gruber (Collins, 2024).
On December 24, 1818, Mohr asked Gruber to create a melody for the poem he had written two years earlier.
Immediately, Gruber began to work on the new composition and presented Mohr with a completed work in time for the Christmas Eve mass later that evening. Most of those who attended the mass were people who suffered great economic loss during the war.
It was there in the quiet at St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, Austria on December 24, 1818, just a little past midnight, that the words of a song we know so well were sung publicly for the very first time…
Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace
Silent night, holy night
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia
Christ the Savior is born
Christ the Savior is born
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
The song Silent Night has since become a staple song within the Church and is known by most across the world.
By the time of World War I, Silent Night was well known around the world and was one of the carols troops on both sides of the Western Front sang during their Christmas Eve cease fire. Both sides would take turns singing carols and folksongs but then the Germans and British sang Silent Night at the same time, each in their own language (Collins, 2024). This event became known as the Christmas Truce of 1914.
Like Mohr, I also long for a safe and peaceful world this Christmas.
What I find most moving about this story is that Mohr was intimately a part of the suffering the villagers were experiencing as a result of the war, and he allowed that suffering to produce something in his life. The song Silent Night had an eternal impact, not only on his little corner of the world, but on the whole world.
Mohr was content, however, to simply reach out to those in his little corner of the world. He was obedient and faithful, and his goal was to express the feelings he and the people he loved were feeling. He allowed the Lord space within his life to produce something beautiful in the midst of suffering.
He pointed people back to lasting hope, safety, and peace by reminding them of Christ’s coming into our broken and crumbling world. Maybe, this Christmas, we can learn something from Mohr’s life.
Suffering is inevitable and it surrounds us daily. It’s what you and I do with it that matters.
Mohr allowed suffering to produce something beautiful and eternal, and so can we.
He quieted his soul and rooted himself in the eternal, lasting hope of Christmas and Christ’s coming. Not only was his little village of Oberndorf changed that Christmas, but the rest of the world was too.
So, let’s imitate this humble village priest this Christmas, shall we?
There is peace and hope awaiting us, even now.
References
Collins, C. (2024, August 19). Silent night: From poem to Christmas carol.
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