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Josef Mohr was born in the city of Salzburg as one of several illegitimate children of the musketeer Franz Mohr and his subsequent wife Anna (born Schoiber) and grew up in the house at Steingasse 31. Thanks to the financial support by the cathedral vicar Johann Nepomuk Hiernle, who appreciated Mohr's musical talent, he was able to study first at the academic high school in Salzburg and at the Benedictine monastery high school of Kremsmünster in Upper Austria from 1808 to 1810; then he began a three-year course of theology studies in Salzburg in 1811.
From 1815 to 1817, Mohr was coadjutor in Ramsau near Berchtesgaden and then in Mariapfarr, where he had already written the text of the Christmas song “Silent Night, Holy Night” in 1816. In August 1817, Mohr came to Oberndorf near Salzburg. Here he met Franz Xaver Gruber, who composed the music to the text "Silent Night, Holy Night". The first performance of the song took place during the matins on December 24, 1818 in the parish church of Oberndorf.
In 1837, Mohr was appointed to Wagrain (in the county of Salzburg) as a vicar, where he stayed until his death on December 4, 1848.
Sources:wikipedia.at and salzburg-rundgang.at/geboren_gelebt/josef_mohr/ - October 10, 2009
