O beautiful Star of Bethlehem,
Shinning afar through shadows dim.
Giving it’s light for who long have gone,
Guiding the wisemen on their way
Unto the place where Jesus laid.
O beautiful Star of Bethlehem shine on.
​
O beautiful Star of Bethlehem,
Shine upon us until the glory dawns.
Give us the lamp to light the way
Into the land of a perfect day.
O beautiful Star of Bethlehem shine on.
​
O beautiful Star of life
Guiding the pilgrims through the night
Over the mountains till the break of dawn.
Unto the land of a perfect day
It will give a lovely ray.
​
O beautiful Star the hope or rest,
For the redeemed, the good the blessed.
Yonder in glory when the crown is won,
For Jesus in now that Star Divine,
Brighter and brighter he will shine.
O beautiful Star of Bethlehem shine on.

According to legend, the popular Christmas carol we all know today called “Silent Night” was first heard 180 years ago. The carol was first enjoyed in a village church in Austria.

Sung at the midnight mass in the St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, the congregation heard the arrangement for the first time as the choir repeated the last two lines in a four-part harmony. Its peaceful, serene and beautiful tune would soon find its way around the world and into the homes of all Christians during the holiday season.

Silent Night has now been translated into hundreds of languages. Christians from all over the world enjoy singing and listening to the song on Christmas Eve and the days leading up to the holiday season.

Of course, over the years, countless stories have been told about the creation of Silent Night and its impact on the world. Since the carol was written with a guitar versus accompanied by an organ, as was typically the tradition, some say that mice had eaten the insides of the organ, forcing the choir to adapt and use a guitar accompaniment instead.

Others say that Silent Night was sung once and then utterly forgotten. However, there are many different manuscript arrangements of the carol by its original creators, pastor Fr. Joseph Mohr and the choir director Franz Xaver Gruber, that prove otherwise. These arrangements are from 1820 to 1855 with various alterations.

The lyrics were written by Joseph Mohr in 1816 when he was a young priest and many have thought he wrote the words while walking in the countryside to visit someone in his parish. Once the words were sung, however, it was impossible to contain its popularity.

The song started to find its way into the international community by way of the master organ repairman that came to work on the organ in subsequent years of the carol’s creation. Karl Mauracher brought copies of the tune with lyrics to his home and the popularity of Silent Night began. Originally, the name of the song was “Tyrolean Folk Song.”

When two families of folk singers incorporated the song into their repertoire, the carol was accessible to many more thousands of people. The carol was sung to the Emperor Franz I and Tsar Alexander I as well.

Finally, in 1839, the song was sung in America for the first time outside Trinity Church in New York City. The impact of the song was immediate and listeners fell in love with its clean and strong message of peace.

Silent Night Holy Night

Text: Joseph Mohr, 1792-1848; trans. by John F. Young, 1820-1885
Music: Franz Gruber, 1787-1863

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.

Silent night, holy night,
wondrous star, lend thy light;
with the angels let us sing,
Alleluia to our King;
Christ the Savior is born,
Christ the Savior is born!

Here is a guitar friendly arrangement of Silent Night for singing with friends.

One of The Most Famous Christmas Carols

For years, the popular belief was that the composer of the tune was Haydn, Beethoven or Mozart. However, the mystery was solved less than a decade ago when the first arrangement was discovered with Joseph Mohr’s name in the upper right-hand corner.

Finally, the true composer was attributed to one of the most famous Christmas carols of the holiday season. With its simple beauty and powerful message of peace, this carol has gained international fame and popularity and is dearly loved by Christians during the Christmas season.

Learn an instrumental guitar arrangement of ‘Silent Night‘.

By Edward Caswall (1814-1878)
​
See amid the winter’s snow,
Born for us on earth below,
See the tender Lamb appears,
Promised from eternal years.
​
Chorus
Hail, thou ever-blessed morn!
Hail, redemption’s happy dawn!
Sing through all Jerusalem,
Christ is born in Bethlehem.
​
Lo, within a manger lies
He who built the starry skies;
He who throned in height sublime
Sits amid the cherubim. Chorus
​
Say, ye holy shepherds, say
What your joyful news today;
Wherefore have ye left your sheep
On the lonely mountain steep? Chorus
​
“As we watched at dead of night,
Lo, we saw a wondrous light; 
Angels singing peace on earth
Told us of the Saviour’s birth”. Chorus
​
Sacred infant, all divine,
What a tender love was thine,
Thus to come from highest bliss
Down to such a world as this. Chorus
​
Teach, O teach us , Holy Child,
By Thy Face so meek and mild,
Teach us to resemble Thee,
In Thy Sweet humility! Chorus

Words by the Welshman Benjamin Francis (1734-1799)
Music by the German composer Michael Praetorius (1571 – 1621)
​
Praise the Saviour, all ye nations,
Praise Him, all ye hosts above;
Shout, with joyful acclamation,
His divine, victorious love;
Be His kingdom now promoted,
Let the earth her Monarch know;
Be my all to Him devoted,
To my Lord my all I owe.
​
See how beauteous on the mountains
Are their feet, whose grand design
Is to guide us to the fountains
That o’erflow with bliss divine,
Who proclaim the joyful tidings
Of salvation all around,
Disregard the world’s deridings,
And in works of love abound.
​
With my substance will I honor
My Redeemer and my Lord;
Were ten thousand worlds my manor,
All were nothing to His Word:
While the heralds of salvation
His abounding grace proclaim,
Let His friends, of every station,
Gladly join to spread His fame