[Gocamino] Stille Nacht

[Rosina]

Hello you all,
To answer your questions (as far as I can):
The Austrian priest that wrote the Silent Night poem was James Mohr. He was born in Salzburg in 1792; he had written a six-verses poem called? "Stille Nacht Heilige Nacht" (Silent Night, Holy Night) on a Christmas eve in 1817. When the organ in his small alpine church was damaged, before Christmas, in 1818 he went to see his music-teacher friend Franz Guber and asked him to set the poem to music which Herr Guber?did, using a guitar.
The? result?was sung at midnight mass that Christmas eve.
Sometime later an organ repairman, Karl Mauracher, went to the church to repair the organ; while there he heard?and loved the song and popularized it in the environs. Eventually some traveling singing-families (Trapp-like) picked it up and took it all over the place. 
The rest, as they say, is history.
Father Joseph Mohr died in 1848 observing, to the end, his Franciscan vows of poverty.
While the carol is sung, beautifully, in many languages, I think that its poignant beauty is more profound, beyond compare,?in the original German (even if one does not speak it), and there can be nothing as Christmas-heavenly as hearing it sung in a small German or Austrian church?by candlelight.
The card I mentioned in an early message is a pencil drawing, in midnight-blue, of the back of a woman leading her small children through the snow up to the little church by the light of a lantern. The original drawing is made of simple strokes and it is, to me, quite beautiful. 
A friend took a picture of it and loaded it in this computer (to send to his mother). I can send you the picture, if you wish, and as you "zoom"? it in you'll be able to see the simplicity and beauty of the pencil strokes.
By the way, Father Mohr's parish was already called a "pilgrims' church" when he was a curate there. Today the abutting albergue is a great favorite among Santiago pilgrims.
Hugs!
Rosina?