The last of a series looking at the stories behind some Christmas Carols, this one is O Holy Night.
In a small town in France in 1843, the parish priest asked a local poet, Placide Cappeau, to write a poem to celebrate the recommissioning of the church organ, they then asked their mutual friend the composer Adolphe Adam to set it to music. The resulting carol was entitled ‘Cantique de Noël‘ or ‘Christmas Carol‘ and was a great success.
The carol was then banned by the church authorities as they found out that Cappeau was an atheist and Adam a Jew. The French people still loved the carol, and it was sung outside the church.
The carol came to the attention of John Sullivan Dwight, an American Unitarian Minister who modified it and translated it to English. A few more edits gives us the carol we know today as ‘O Holy Night’.
Legend has it that ‘Cantique de Noël‘ played a part in the Franco-Prussian War. During a lull in battle on December 24th, 1870, French troops started singing the carol from their trench, and it moved the German soldiers so much, they began to sing one of Martin Luther’s hymns. The impromptu battle of the bands resulted in a 24-hour truce so the soldiers on both sides could celebrate Christmas.