I have a scandalous story! In the 1840s, a French Roman Catholic church hired a known atheist, Placide Cappeau, to write a poem for their completed restorations. Cappeau wrote “Minuit, Chrétiens,” and had his Jewish friend Adolphe Adam set the poem to music, giving us the song “Cantique de Noël.” An opera singer preformed it for the first time on Christmas Eve. The song was so beloved that everyone began to play it. It made its way to Québec in 1858 and became a staple for Noël—even if banned by the Canadian Roman Catholic Church in 1930 for its dubious origins. As what usually happens when something is banned, everyone wants to hear it. By the 1950s, you could hear “Midnight Christians” in many denominations (including Catholic) all over. In 1855, John Sullivan Dwight translated the song into English. He was against slavery, and an Unitarian Transcendentalist (that means he rejected the idea of God being 3 in 1; and believes people are inherently good). Therefore, he changed the lyrics to fit his theology. Out were sin and the wrath of God, and in were universal love and “Night Divine.” This version spread too, with its own controversy of now being an atheist-Jewish-Unitarian-Transcendentalist-abolitionist-hymn. What a scandal!
Except… it’s not wholly true. Cappeau wasn’t atheist. He was a fan of Voltaire and supported ending monarchies. He also changed his lyrics when he stopped believing in original sin. Adam wasn’t Jewish; he just was later suspected of being Jewish by Nazi sympathizers. Yes, the Roman Catholic Church banned the hymn, but also many other popular songs, so people could focus for awhile on reviving Gregorian Chant. It isn’t banned now. It is true Dwight changed the lyrics when translating; and is true the song was scandalous at its creation, and at translation, for declaring Jesus doesn’t approve of slavery.
The popular story is a mix of truth and half-truths and falsehoods. The same is true of our Christmases. Our crèches are a combination. Matthew says there are wisemen but nothing of a manger. Luke says there is a manger but nothing of wisemen. And in the first century, people said Jesus was born in a cave! Mark and John don’t care about how Jesus was born, but rather what it means: And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we saw the glory of it, as the glory of the only begotten Son of the Father, which Word was full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news’ (Mark 1:14-15). Nowhere are oxen or doves mentioned. But I like them in my nativity scene. I also have wisemen and shepherds at the same time. The meaning of the story is more important than the historical facts, just like with the origin of O Holy Night (which is my favourite hymn!).
Historically it is messy. But as a story, what is more Christ-like than the coming together of believers and non-believers, Jews and Christians, Trinitarians and Unitarians, Roman Catholics and Protestants, free people and enslaved, all coming together to make beautiful music and affirm we have much more in common than different? This is a time of peace—a night divine!
May you be able to cross what divides you from others, even if for just a short while, and share a holy night.
Rev. Whitney LP Bruno
Little Current
United Church
Pastoral Charge