"O Little Town of Bethlehem," Most Famous American Christmas Carol

The Episcopal Bishop Phillip Brooks (1835-1893) began his professional career as a Latin teacher in Boston. He was a miserable failure in that role. But when he entered the ministry he found the life he had been suited for, and came to be highly revered by all he served. While pastoring Holy Trinity Church in Philadelphia in 1865 he took a tour of the Holy Lands.

On Christmas Eve he made a journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem by horseback. He noted in his diary, "Before dark we rode out of town to the field where they say the shepherds saw the star." ¹ He also attended services in an ancient basilica supposedly built in the fourth century by Constantine. The experience was indelibly imprinted on the young minister's mind.

Three years later Brooks was planning his church's Christmas service and wanted a new carol for the Children to sing. He began :

"O little town of Bethlehem, How still we see thee lie."

There are five stanzas in the poem, although modern hymnbooks contain only four. ²

The next day Brooks gave Lewis Redner (1830-1908), the church organist, the words and asked him to write music to go with them. He said that if the tune became popular that he would name it St. Lewis. (If you look in hynmals, every tune has its own name that has nothing to do with the words that are sung to that tune.) Redner countered and said that the tune should be named St. Phillip, in honor of Brooks.

But Redner was a genuine artist. He was unable to come up with a tune that he liked. Christmas Day was getting nearer and nearer. The children needed time to practice the new song. Redner claimed that he was uninspired. On Christmas Eve the tune was still unwritten! Redner fell asleep, worrying about how he could produce music before the program. He awoke in the night with the new tune ringing in his ears. Somehow the children learned their piece, and "O little town of Bethlehem" was sung for the first time in 1868.

Brooks did name the tune for his organist friend. But in order to spare him embarrassment he changed the spelling to St. Louis.

Neither Brooks nor Redner ever married, yet their carol is loved by children around the world. It is said that at Brooks' funeral a five-year-old girl was heard to say, "Oh, mama, how happy the angels will be." ¹

1. Emurian, Ernest K, Living Stories of Famous Hymns. W.A. Wilde Company, 1955.

2. See the lyrics and hear the tune at Hymnsite.com