Above:  Part of the Hymn, from Glory to God:  The Presbyterian Hymnal (2013)

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Silent Night (Stille Nacht in the original German) is the great Christmas hymn by Father Franz Joseph Mohr (1792-1848), dating to 1816 and published in 1818.  The note in Glory to God:  The Presbyterian Hymnal (2013) mentions the 1816 date, which means that Mohr had the text sitting around long before the Christmas Eve service of 1818.  This fact overturns the part of the traditional story which had the priest writing the text in 1818.

There are English translations of the German text, but the most famous one is that of John Freeman Young (1820-1885), from 1863.  He served as the Episcopal Bishop of Florida from 1867 to 1885.  The most common variations over time in his text explain the difference between

Silent night! Holy night!

and

Silent night, holy night!

The Young text, as reprinted in the Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary (1996), follows:

1.  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.

2.  Silent night! Holy night!

Shepherds quake at the sight.

Glories stream from heaven afar;

Heav’nly hosts sing, Alleluia;

Christ the Savior is born!

Christ the Savior is born!

3.  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.

Marilyn Kay Stulken, in the Hymnal Companion to the Lutheran Book of Worship (Philadelphia, PA:  Fortress Press, 1981), tells me that the above lyrics were anonymous until 1957.  This is consistent with my survey of old hymnals in my collection.  And I have one hymnal published in 1994 which continues to list the author of these lyrics as anonymous.

These words, the John Freeman Young lyrics, remain unaltered (except for the discrepancy between a comma and an exclamation point) in most contemporary hymnals.  Even The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod’s Lutheran Worship (1982), which turns My Faith Looks Up to Thee into My Faith Looks Trustingly, leaves Silent Night as it was.  Yet The New Century Hymnal (1995), United Church of Christ, which contains rewrites of almost all hymns therein, changes the third verse so that

Son of God

becomes

Child of God

and

thy

becomes

your.

I started thinking about the lyrics of Silent Night late last night, when I picked up my copy of Concordia:  A Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1917) and flipped through its Christmas section.  There I found different lyrics, which The Lutheran Hymnary (1935) replicates.  These words follow:

1.  Holy night! peaceful night!

Through the darkness beams a light,

Yonder, where they sweet vigils keep

O’er the Babe who in silent sleep,

Rests in heavenly peace,

Rests in heavenly peace.

2.  Silent night! holiest night!

Darkness flies, and all is light!

Shepherds hear the angels sing:

Jesus the Savior is here!

Jesus the Savior is here!

3.  Silent night! holiest night!

Guiding Star, O lend thy light!

See the eastern wise men bring

Gifts and homage to our King!

Jesus the Savior is here!

Jesus the Savior is here!

4.  Silent night! holiest night!

Wondrous Star, O lend thy light!

With the angels let us sing,

Hallelujah to our King!

Jesus our Savior is here!

Jesus our Savior is here!

I have seen this fourth stanza accompany the Young lyrics in modern hymnals.  Sometimes these volumes attribute the final verse to Bishop Young, sometimes to Anonymous, and to Jane Montgomery Campbell (1817-1878) on other occasions.  I do not know how many other stanzas she translated, but I know that she deserves the credit for the first verse of the version of the hymn from The Hymnal (1933), Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.:

1.  Silent night! holy night!

All is dark, save the light

Yonder, where they sweet vigil keep

O’er the Babe who in silent sleep

Rests in heavenly peace,

Rests in heavenly peace.

2.  Peaceful night! holiest night!

Darkness flies, all is light;

Shepherds hear the angels sing:

“Alleluia! hail the King!

Christ the Saviour is here!

Christ the Saviour is here!”

3.  Silent night! holiest night!

Child of heaven, O how bright

Thou didst smile on us when Thou wast born!

Blest indeed that happy morn,

Full of heavenly joy!

Full of heavenly joy!

I have found various composite versions in The Evangelical Hymnal (1921) and The Methodist Hymnal (1935), both forebears of The United Methodist Hymnal (1989), as well as in the American Lutheran Hymnal (1930).  The latter volume contains the John Freeman Young version then an alternative rendering, a composite which includes the second Young verse.  The first and third stanzas of that composite version follow:

1.  Silent night, holy night!

Golden stars shed their light.

While yon virgin tenderly wakes

At the manger till morning breaks

O’er the heavenly Child,

O’er the heavenly Child.

3.  Silent night, holy night!

Son of God, love’s pure light

Shines so sweetly out of Thine eyes;

‘Tis the light of salvation we prize,

Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth,

Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.

In 1881 Stopford Brooke (1832-1916), an Irish Anglican clergyman who had converted recently to Unitarianism, published Christian Hymns, reissued twelve years later.  This book included his translation of the Mohr text:

1.  Still the night, holy the night!

Sleeps the world! yet the light

Shines where Mary watches there,

Her child Jesus loved and fair.

Sleeping in heavenly rest;

Sleeping in heavenly rest.

2.  Still the night, holy the night!

Shepherds first told aright

How the Angel of the star

Sang so clear from near and far–

Jesus, a Saviour, is born;

Jesus, a Saviour, is born.

3.  Still the night, holy the night!

Little child, O how bright

Love is smiling from thy face!

Now strikes sweet the hour of grace;

Jesus, our Master, is here,

Jesus, our Master, is here.

The Church Hymnary (1927), Presbyterian, contains a related translation based on the Brooke version:

1.  Still the night, holy the night!

Sleeps the world; hid from sight,

Mary and Joseph in stable bare

Watch o’er the Child beloved and fair,

Sleeping in heavenly rest,

Sleeping in heavenly rest.

2.  Still the night, holy the night!

Shepherds first saw the light,

Heard resounding clear and long,

Far and near, the angel-song,

“Christ the Redeemer is here!

Christ the Redeemer is here!”

3.  Still the night, holy the night!

Son of God,O how bright

Love is smiling from Thy face!

Strikes for us now the hour of grace,

Saviour, since Thou art born!

Saviour, since Thou art born!

I wonder how many other English-language versions I will find.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 23, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT COLUMBAN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

THE FEAST OF SAINT CLEMENT OF ROME, BISHOP

THE FEAST OF MIGUEL AGUSTIN PRO, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR

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Above:  What Our Saviour Saw from the Cross, by James Joseph Jacques Tissot (1836-1902)

Image in the Public Domain

Hymn Source = Lutheran Worship (1982), of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod

Original German words by Johann Heermann (1585-1647)

English Translation by F. Samuel Janzow (1913-2001), U.S. Lutheran pastor and professor of religion and English

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1.  Grant, Lord Jesus, that my healing

In your holy wounds I find.

Cleanse my spirit, will, and feeling;

Heal my body, soul, and mind.

When some evil thought within

Tempts my wayward heart to sin,

Work in me for its eviction,

Weighted by your crucifixion.

2.  If some lust in current fashion

Rises like a fi’ry flood,

Draw me to your cross and Passion,

Quench the fire, Lord, by your blood.

Lest I to the tempter yield,

Let me front him with the shield,

Thorn-crowned, blood-marked tree displaying,

Sign the devils find dismaying.

3.  Beckoned by the world’s old question,

“Going my broad, easy road?”

Let me turn from its suggestion

To the agonizing load

Which for me you did endure.

Let me thus flee thoughts impure

Lest I toy with soiled emotions,

Losing joy in blest devotions.

4.  Where the wound is and the hurting,

Pour in oil and cleansing wine.

Let your cross, its pow’r asserting,

Touch my life with grace divine.

Ev’ry bitter cup make sweet,

Bread of comfort let me eart.

For you won my soul’s salvation

By your death for ev’ry nation.

5.  Jesus, rock of strength, my tower,

In your death I put my trust.

When you died, death lost its power,

When you rose, it turned to dust.

Let your bitter agony,

Suffered for us, comfort me.

Dying, Lord, in its protection,

I have life and resurrection.

Eucharistic Adoration

Image Source = Shark96z

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eucharistic_adoration_(lutheran).jpg)

Prayer Source = Common Service Book (1917), of the predecessor bodies of the United Lutheran Church in America (1918-1962), itself an ancestor of the Lutheran Church in America (1962-1987) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (1987-)

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We give thanks to Thee, Almighty God, that Thou hast refreshed us with this Thy salutary gift; and we beseech Thee, of Thy mercy, to strengthen us through the same in faith toward Thee, and in fervent love toward one another; through Jesus Christ, Thy dear Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end.  Amen.

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This prayer is quite common in Lutheran hymnals and service books of North American origin across generations.  I have found in the 1930 American Lutheran Hymnal, the 1941 Lutheran Hymnal, and the 1958 Service Book and Hymnal.  And I have found updated variations of it in the 1993 Christian Worship:  A Lutheran Hymnal, the 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship, the 1982 Lutheran Worship, the 2006 Evangelical Lutheran Worship, and the 2006 Lutheran Service Book.

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Here is the version from the Lutheran Service Book (2006), of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod:

We give thanks to You, almighty God,

that you have refreshed us through this salutary gift,

and we implore You that of Your mercy

You would strengthen us through the same

in faith in You and fervent love toward one another;

through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord,

who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

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Here is the version from Christian Worship:  A Lutheran Hymnal (1993), of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod:

We give thanks, almighty God,

that you have refreshed us with this holy supper.

We pray that through it you will strengthen our faith in you

and increase our love for one another.

We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

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Here is the version from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:

We give you thanks, almighty God,

that you have refreshed us through the healing power of this gift of life.

In your mercy, strengthen us through this gift,

in faith toward you and in fervent love toward one another;

for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Mosaic of Jesus

Image Source = Wikipedia

Hymn Source = Lutheran Worship (1982), of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod

The Reverend Frank von Christierson (1900-1996) was a Presbyterian minster and a member of the Hymn Society of America.

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1.  Eternal Spirit of the living Christ,

I know not how to ask or what to say;

I only know my need, as deep as life,

And only you can teach me how to pray.

2.  Come, pray in me the prayer I need this day;

Help me to see your purpose and your will

Where I have failed, what I have done amiss;

Held in forgiving love, let me be still.

3.  Come with the strength I lack, bring vision clear

Of human need; oh give me eyes to see

Fulfillment of my life in love outpoured;

My life in you, O Christ; your love in me.