O Holy Night is not only one of the most beloved Christmas hymns of all time, it also has one of the most interesting\u00a0histories of any hymn in\u00a0Christian history.
\nIn 1847, a priest in a small French town decided he wanted a special poem penned for Christmas mass. He commissioned a local poet \u2014 commissionaire of wines \u2014 Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure. Cappeau, though not a churchgoer, accepted the commission, and while traveling in a coach to France\u2019s capital city, began to read Luke\u2019s account of the birth of Jesus. In that coach, he imagined what it must have been like to be present on that miraculous night. As the words of the gospel of Luke and his imagination swirled in his mind, the beautiful lines of his new poem began to flow through his pen onto the page. By the time he arrived at his destination, the words of \u201cCantique de Noel\u201d were complete.
\nCappeau quickly realized that his poem was meant to be sung. He\u00a0decided to reach out to his friend, Adolphe Charles Adams. Adolphe was an accomplished musician who was certainly up to the task of matching this beautiful poetry to equally beautiful music. Although Adolphe was Jewish, he married a memorable melody to Christ-exalting lyrics.
\nThe priest loved the song produced by this unlikely hymn-writing duo. \u201cCantique de Noel\u201d was performed at the Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. The church in France couldn\u2019t have been more pleased, and it was soon sung in many Catholic Christmas services all over France.
\nBut fortunes quickly changed for \u201cCantique de Noel.\u201d Church leaders discovered that the lyrics were written by a man who had split from the Catholic Church to join the socialist movement, and that the was music written by a Jewish musician.
\nThe song was publically denounced by the Church.\u00a0But this official ruling against\u00a0\u201cCantique de Noel\u201d couldn\u2019t weaken the French people\u2019s love for the hymn, and they continued singing it in their homes and communities.
\nThe French people weren\u2019t the only ones enchanted by the song. The American writer and abolitionist, John Sullivan Dwight, was moved deeply when he heard the lines of the third verse:<\/p>\n
Truly he taught us to love one\u00a0<\/i>another; <\/i><\/p>\n
his law is love and his gospel is peace. <\/i><\/p>\n
Chains shall he break,\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
for the slave is our brother;\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
and in his name <\/i><\/p>\n
all oppression\u00a0<\/i>shall cease.<\/i><\/p>\n
Dwight translated the French song into English and printed \u201cO Holy Night\u201d in his magazine. The song quickly found favor during the Civil War, especially in the North, as an anthem for freedom.
\nBack in France, the censured song made a miraculous appearance in the Franco-Prussian War. Legend has it that on Christmas Eve 1871, while fighting raged on between Germany and France, a French soldier jumped out of his trench and began to sing \u201cCantique de Noel.\u201d After listening to the familiar Christmas hymn, a German soldier climbed out of his fortification to answer the song with another Christmas hymn, \u201cFrom Heaven Above to Earth I Come.\u201d The fighting stopped for the next 24 hours as both sides observed Christmas Day. Shortly after this incident, the French Church embraced \u201cCantique de Noel\u201d once more in their holiday services.
\nBut that\u2019s not the end of the amazing history of \u201cO Holy Night.\u201d On Christmas Eve in 1906, radio operators on ships and wireless owners at newspapers were shocked to hear something no one had ever heard over the radio \u2014 a human voice. Reginald Fessenden spoke the first words ever broadcast over the radio airwaves: \u201cAnd it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed…\u201d And after reading Luke\u2019s account of the birth of Jesus, he picked up his violin and began to play the first song ever broadcast over the airwaves: \u201cO Holy Night.\u201d
\nThis incredible history of an incredible hymn reminds us that God will have His glory in a non-believing French socialist, in the beauty of poetry, across nations, in the horrors of war, and even in the birth of new technology.<\/p>\n
Christ is the Lord!\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
O praise His Name forever!<\/i><\/p>\n
His power and glory\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
evermore proclaim.<\/i><\/p>\n
His power and glory\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
evermore proclaim!<\/i><\/p>\n
\n