Nothing rings in the holiday season like Christmas carols. Although stores and radio stations bombard the average person with Christmas music as soon as the calendar turns to November, Catholic churches will not play sacred Christmas songs until December 24. Many of these beloved carols came from Protestant composers, yet some hymns sung at Christmas Masses have Catholic roots.
Silent Night
On Christmas Eve in 1818 in a little town in the Austrian Empire called Oberndorf, one of the world’s most well-known Christmas carols was born. Flooding had damaged the organ in the Nikolauskirche (St. Nicholas Church), and Father Joseph Mohr approached composer Franz Xaver Gruber with a poem he had written two years prior to set the words to music. The song “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht” rang through the church for the first time with guitar accompaniment that year. From there, the tune spread throughout German-speaking Europe via two families of traveling singers. Eventually, it became known as “Silent Night,” and has been translated into more than 300 languages. British and German soldiers in World War I even sang it together during the famous Christmas truce in 1914. Today, the Silent-Night-Chapel sits at the spot where the carol was first sung, as flooding later destroyed the church.
O Holy Night
Another song with similar roots as “Silent Night,” “O Holy Night” began as a poem and was set to music at the request of French parish priest Father Maurice Gilles. It debuted at Midnight Mass in 1847 Roquemaure, France as “Cantique de Noël.” Placide Cappeau wrote the lyrics and Adolphe Adam composed the melody. It, too, became a battlefield hymn, sang by French soldiers in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, temporarily halting fighting, and by Father Ron Camarda, Marine Reserve major, to a dying soldier in Fallujah, Iraq. Some considered the original lyrics controversial and banned the song from Masses. But modern adaptations are commonly heard at Midnight Masses throughout the world.
O Come All Ye Faithful
The origins of this popular carol are unclear but steeped in Catholicism. While it could have been written by St. Bonaventure, King John IV of Portugal or Cistercian monks, most hymnals credit English Catholic John Francis Wade as the lyricist of “Adestes Fideles.” Translated into English in 1852 by Father Frederick Oakeley, “O Come All Ye Faithful” became known as the “Portuguese Hymn” after being sung at the Portuguese embassy in London. Its use has become widespread, and traditionally, Midnight Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica ends with the hymn in its Latin form.
In Dulci Jubilo
Often taking a backseat to its more modern and better-knowncousin, “Good Christian Men, Rejoice,” this Latin carol originated around 1328 A.D. and is often attributed to the Dominican friar Blessed Heinrich Suso. According to legend, he heard the lyrics when he had a vision during which he danced with angels who sang “In Dulci Jubilo.” The song is considered macaronic, meaning a mixture of two languages – German and Latin, in this case. Most English translations date to the 1800s and the carol is widely popular today with British organists and music directors
