Religious Favorites Christmas Card Set - Oh Holy Night

"O Holy Night" began as a poem called "Minuit, chrétiens" (Midnight, Christians), written in 1847 by Placide Cappeau, a French wine merchant who was asked to write verses for a Christmas Mass. Composer Adolphe Adam, who also wrote the ballet Giselle, set the words to music that same year. The hymn's most famous English version came later, from John Sullivan Dwight, a Boston music critic and Unitarian minister, in 1855. It has been a holiday favorite ever since, and it was reportedly the first piece of music ever broadcast over radio, in 1906, when Reginald Fessenden played a violin performance of it on Christmas Eve.

This card carries that reverence into a simple nativity scene. Mary and Joseph stand with halos over the manger, and the baby lies in the straw beneath a star with radiating rays. The scene sits inside a house-shaped frame, with sparkle crosses scattered across the sky and the script words "oh holy night" flowing along the bottom. Every line of the design is printed in gold foil, so the whole card glows as it catches the light.

Inside, the verse reads: "May His love surround you at Christmastime and always."

• Card Size: 5 in × 7 in (12.7 cm × 17.78 cm)
• Quantity: 16 cards, 17 envelopes
• Inside Verse: "May His love surround you at Christmastime and always."
• Artwork: Nativity scene in a house-shaped frame, with halos over Mary, Joseph, and the baby in the manger, a star with rays, sparkle crosses, and script lettering
• Finish: All gold foil print
• Collection: Religious Favorites, design 5 of 12