In fact, it was a ‘Silent Night’ when this beloved song was first composed. If it weren’t for a broken pipe organ, the world probably would have been left without its most popular Christmas carol.

Perhaps it was that very silence that inspired the Reverend Joseph Mohr to write those now famous words in 1818. At the time, it was probably more despair than inspiration that motivated him.

As Father Mohr was preparing for Christmas Eve mass at his church in the small Austrian town of Oberndorf, someone discovered that the old church organ was out of order. With only a few days to go and the closest repairer to several days of travel, it seemed that the mass would have to begin without musical accompaniment.

Feeling frustrated in his efforts to plan a memorable Christmas, Fr. Mohr set out to come up with another plan. This was in the midst of all his regular parish duties, including blessing a newborn baby. On this particular call, Fr. Mohr was suddenly surprised by the words of what is now known as “Silent Night” or “Stille Nacht” in his mother tongue. Quickly, so as not to lose the lines that were rapidly filling her brain, she ended her call and ran home. Here he wrote four stanzas, the first of which reads in English:

Silent night Holy night,

Everything is calm, everything is bright

Around your virgin, mother and son.

Holy child so tender and soft,

Sleep in Heavenly Peace.

When he had written his words on the parchment, he called his colleague, Franz Gruber, the musician who made up the parish choir. He managed to wrest the fact that, in addition to his organ prowess, Gruber was also a guitarist. Gruber emphatically informed him, however, that his guitar skills were less than proficient. Undeterred, Mohr presented the words of his new poem to Gruber. Surrounding a dusty, little-used guitar, the two men composed the song that would provide music for Oberndorf’s Christmas mass.

At the time, it was unlikely that Mohr or Gruber had any idea of ​​the impact they would have on the story. In fact, the song almost disappeared into obscurity for a decade. It was then that “Silent Night” fell into the hands of the Strasser family of Zillertal Valley.

Strasser’s four young children, musically trained, spent many hours doing business for their parents’ glove-making business singing in front of the store. In a way not unlike a modern talent agent who discovers a secret talent in the most unlikely place, “Silent Night” was introduced to the Strassers. Rearranged from a two- to four-part harmony, the Strasser children were catapulted to instant renown with their performance. The residents of the valley renamed it “The Song of Heaven,” as the Strasser children sounded very much like a choir of angels when they performed it. They sang so beautifully that, in fact, the Strasser were invited to perform it before kings and queens.

It may have been a king who placed “Silent Night” indelibly on the lips of Christendom. King Frederick William IV of Prussia heard her sing about 22 years after the Strasser children began to perform “The Song of Heaven.” Subsequently, he declared that he should “take first place in all future Christmas concerts” within the domain of his mandate. It is not known with certainty if it really was or not. What is certain is that “Silent Night” went beyond the limits of King Frederick to become loved all over the world.