On Christmas Eve in 1818, Franz Gruber, church organist in the little town of Oberndorf, Bavaria, made an alarming discovery. The organ would not play!

For several days previous to Christmas Eve, Oberndorf had been snowbound. Gruber, knowing there was no one in Oberndorf capable of repairing the organ, was afraid there would be no music for this Christmas.

He could hardly imagine Christmas without music. Quickly he went to the vicar, Joseph Mohr, and told him his story. He asked Mohr to write a new Christmas song which could easily be sung without the use of the organ.

Later, as Mohr sat reading Christmas stories from his Bible . . . "Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior" . . . the words welled up in his soul like a heavenly anthem. Long into the night he sat meditating on them. As the full meaning gripped his soul, he wrote a poem about the wondrous story.

Early the next day, Gruber took the newly written words and composed a melody. Now the people were gathering at the church. There was one man who could pick out tunes on a guitar. He was asked to accompany the new carol.

The people of Oberndorf loved the song immediately, and thus Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber gave to the world one of the most beautiful and best loved of the Christmas carols. It was not long before the Tyrolean Singers took the song to America. For years it went under the title, "Song from Heaven". Today "Silent Night" is sung in nearly every language of the world.