I was watching a documentary about Christmas carols last night from the very good historian Lucy Worsley and she mentioned that a priest at a church in Philadelphia wrote "O Little Town of Bethlehem" in the 1800s. From https://www.crosswalk.com/special-coverage/christmas-and-advent/o-little-town-of-bethlehem-1457973.html:

>Phillips Brooks, the composer of this famous Christmas carol, was the minister of Holy Trinity Church in Philadelphia and had visited Bethlehem in December of 1865. Phillips Brooks traveled to the Holy Land. The itinerary included a horseback ride from Jerusalem to Bethlehem on Christmas Eve. Back then it truly was a small village, far removed from the bustling city it would later become. By nightfall he was in the field where, according to tradition, the shepherds heard the angelic announcement. Then he attended the Christmas Eve service at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
>
>Something about the beauty and simplicity of that visit stayed with Phillips Brooks when he returned to America. Several years later, when he wanted a new song of Christmas for the children to sing at his church, he reached back in memory for inspiration from his Holy Land visit. The poem he wrote painted in words the sights and sounds of that little town of Bethlehem he had visited.

Comments

urbantravelsPHL t1_j1b0x7u wrote on December 22, 2022 at 11:47 PM

#1,015,107

Yep, checks out with the "History" section of the church's website - Church of the Holy Trinity (Episcopal) on Rittenhouse Square.

https://htrit.org/history/

dc122186 t1_j1bxsa8 wrote on December 23, 2022 at 4:04 AM

#1,018,029

I heard this a few years ago when Bramwell Tovey conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra for their Christmas program.

He was a Brit but apparently loved Philly during the holiday season and wrote a carol about it: https://open.spotify.com/track/4ygSoZzaQpdBDLYdaR6BXM?si=enne_S0aTWifprSraGaZtg

John_EightThirtyTwo t1_j1c5w5e wrote on December 23, 2022 at 5:19 AM

#1,018,749

Replying to urbantravelsPHL (#1,015,107)

Yeah, it's the church at the northwest corner of Rittenhouse Square, on the south side of Walnut. Apparently, a 19th-Century pastor was way into Bethlehem.

IN YOUR FACE, ALLENTOWN!

K3R3G3 t1_j1cmxva wrote on December 23, 2022 at 8:39 AM

#1,019,909

Replying to urbantravelsPHL (#1,015,107)

Interesting. Just last month, I took photos of the stained glass window of that church where Mary is holding baby Jesus. I don't typically photograph such things, so photographing the one that's depicting the birthplace, at the church where the guy who was a minister wrote the song about the birthplace, and then learning about it 2 days before Christmas...hmmm.