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5 unusual facts about O Little Town of Bethlehem


A.D. Club

Phillips Brooks - lyricist of "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and namesake of the Phillips Brooks House Association

Annunciation to the shepherds

Phillips Brooks' O Little Town of Bethlehem (1867) has the lines "O morning stars together, proclaim the holy birth, / And praises sing to God the King, and peace to men on earth!" The originally German carol Silent Night has "Shepherds quake at the sight; / Glories stream from heaven afar, / Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!"

O Little Town of Bethlehem

William Rhys-Herbert included a new hymn-tune and harmonization as part of his 1909 cantata, Bethany.

The text was written by Phillips Brooks (1835–1893), an Episcopal priest, Rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia.

St. Luke's and St. Margaret's Church

It was the only parish in the diocese founded under Bishop Phillips Brooks, the famous preacher and author of O Little Town of Bethlehem.



see also