Advent Calendar Day 24: Silent Night

Silent Night

[Verse 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

[Verse 2]

Silent night, holy night!

Shepherds quake at the sight

Glories stream from heaven afar

Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!

Christ the Saviour is born

Christ the Saviour is born

[Verse 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.

“Silent Night” (“Stille Nacht” in its original German) is one of the most well-known traditional Christmas carols sung around the world.

The song was originally a poem written by pastor Joseph Franz Mohr and composed by his friend Franz Xaver Gruber in early 19th century Austria. Pastor Mohr desperately needed a carol for the Christmas Eve midnight mass that was only hours away, and he hoped Gruber – a school teacher as well as the church’s choir master and organist – could set his poem to music; he composed the melody in just a few hours on that Christmas Eve.

The Hungarian lyrics:

Csendes éj! Szentséges éj!

Mindenek nyugta mély;

Nincs más fenn, csak a szent szülepár,

Drága kisdedük álmainál,

Szent Fiú, aludjál, szent Fiú aludjál!

Csendes éj! Szentséges éj!

Angyalok hangja kél;

Halld a mennyei halleluját,

Szerte zengi e drága szavát,

Krisztus megszabadít, Krisztus megszabadít!

Csendes éj! Szentséges éj!

Szív örülj, higgy, remélj!

Isten Szent Fia hinti reád,

Ajka vigaszt adó mosolyát,

Krisztus megszületett, Krisztus megszületett!