O Little Town of Bethlehem
Reverend Philipps Brooks was another of Boston’s leading nineteenth century preachers. Working with architect H. H. Richardson, he built the magnificent Trinity Church at Copley Square. On a visit to the Holy Land (while serving at a Philadelphia church) he wrote the poem “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”
On Christmas Eve, 1941, shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin Roosevelt, attended church services together in Washington, D.C. Churchill heard this American hymn for the first time and was struck by the lyrics. The imagery seemed to match the moment. “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”
- Christmas themed windows by Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris at Boston’s Trinity Church
- Reverend Phillips Brooks