A Song Born in Suffering
My favorite Christmas Carol is “Oh Holy Night.” Every Christmas it is played in our home as we celebrate the wonderful gift of God to mankind in the giving of His Son for all. The backstory of this beautiful song reflects the grace and love of God in His continuous work to communicate to all the message of Jesus Christ and the reason for Christmas. If I may, I would like to share it with you.
Placide Cappeau grew up in the small French town of Roquemaure. His father was a barrel maker, and Placide was being trained to take over the family business. One day, he and a friend were playing with a pistol, and the friend accidentally fired it, hitting Placide’s right hand. His hand was so severely injured that the physician had to amputate it. His dreams of taking over his father’s business were instantly shattered. He focused his studies on poetry and became known locally for his writing.
Placide did not often attend services at the Catholic Church, yet the local parish priest asked him to write a poem. Placide began studying the Scriptures regarding the birth of Christ and the reason for His birth. One day, while traveling by stagecoach to Paris, he penned a poem, Minuit, chrétiens (Midnight, Christians). Upon reading the poem, the priest asked Placide to have it set to music. Since he was a poet and not a musician, he turned to a friend, Adolphe Charles Adams, to see if he would compose music for it.
Adolphe, a classical musician who had composed many works around the world, agreed because of their friendship. A few weeks later, it was performed at a Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. Cantique de Noel, as it was now known, became popular in France and was sung in numerous Christmas services. When Placide Cappeau joined a socialist movement and it was discovered that Adolphe Adams was a Jew, French Catholic Church leaders decided the carol was unfit for church services. However, it could still be heard in homes across France at Christmas time.
From France to America
A decade later, John Sullivan Dwight, an American writer, published his English translation of Cantique de Noel as “O Holy Night” in his magazine. An abolitionist, Dwight strongly identified with the lines of the third verse: “Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is love and His gospel is peace. Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother; and in His name all oppression shall cease.” This verse mirrored Dwight’s view on slavery, and the song quickly found favor in America.
On Christmas Eve 1871, during fierce fighting in the Franco-Prussian War, a French soldier suddenly jumped out of his muddy trench. Both sides stared in stunned unbelief at the man standing with his eyes lifted to the heavens, singing Cantique de Noel. Then a German soldier stepped into the open and answered the Frenchman’s song with Martin Luther’s From Heaven Above to Earth I Come. The fighting stopped for the next twenty-four hours as both sides observed a temporary peace in honor of Christmas day.
Years later, on Christmas Eve 1906, Reginald Fessenden, a university professor and former chief chemist for Thomas Edison, did something long thought impossible. Using a new type of generator, Fessenden spoke into a microphone, and for the first time in history, a man’s voice was broadcast over the airwaves with these words from the Bible: “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.” His strong, clear voice shocked radio operators on ships and wireless operators at newspapers, who rushed to their receivers to catch this Christmas Eve miracle. After finishing his recitation of the birth of Christ, Fessenden picked up his violin and played O Holy Night, the first song ever transmitted via radio.
A Song for the Ages
Since its humble beginnings in a stagecoach and a small Christmas Mass in 1847, Oh Holy Night has been sung millions of times in every corner of the world. Since the moment people first heard it played over the radio, the carol has gone on to become one of the most recorded and played spiritual songs. This incredible work—the simple request of a forgotten parish priest, written by a disabled poet, given soaring music by a Jewish composer, and brought to America to tell the story of the birth of a Savior and highlight the sinful nature of slavery—has become one of the most beautiful, inspired pieces of music ever created.
How the hand of God wove the thread of this song through the tapestry of time using unlikely instruments is a testament to His grace, unconditional love, and unending message of hope for all mankind: the message of that one night, that “Oh, Holy Night.”
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year