Scripture Verse: Luke 2:1-20
Silent Night (Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht) is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. It was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2011. In 1859, the Episcopal priest John Freeman Young, published the English translation. The song was sung simultaneously in English and German by troops during the Christmas truce of 1914 during World War I, as it was one carol that soldiers on both sides of the front line knew.
Jackie Evancho is an American classical crossover singer. At the age of ten, she performed in an America's Got Talent competition, and finished in second place. She has gone on to record several best-selling albums. Evancho is the ambassador for Mission: Humane, a US Humane Society program that encourages children to help protect animals.
