“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)
This German text was composed by Fr. Josef Mohr, a Catholic priest who died in 1848. He should not be confused with a Jesuit priest, Fr. Josef Hermann Mohr (d. 1892), who published many German hymnals. The English translation (“Silent Night”) was composed by John Freeman Young. The Latin version (“Silens Nox”) is by Father Valentine Young, OFM.