“O Holy Night” and the Abolitionist Movement

Did you know that “O Holy Night,” a Christmas carol we sing every year, has ties to the abolitionist movement? I didn’t realize this until a few years ago when I heard the song sung. Typically, performers only sing the first or maybe the first two verses; however, this time I heard the third verse, a stanza that can be seen in an abolitionist light, especially during the years leading up to the Civil War.

In 1847, French composer and music critic Adolphe Adam wrote the music “Cantique de Noël” based off of the poem “Minuit, chrétiens” written by Placide Cappeau. Later, in 1855, John Sullivan Dwight, a Unitarian minister in Boston translated Cappeau’s text and noticed some lines in the third verse that corresponded to his abolitionist beliefs. Sullivan translated the third verse to read:

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name.

Of particular interest here, of course, are the third and fourth lines. Reading these, it does not seem unrealistic that someone who ardently argued against slavery in the South would take up the song in relation to the movement. “O Holy Night” has the audience observe…