Nuns were ‘one-hit wonders’ with 1916 Christmas carol

Christmas carols seem to get better with age, and such is the case with “In a Manger Lowly.” The song was co-written in 1916 by two Roman Catholic nuns who were members of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Baden, Pa.

Sister Victoria Martin (1869-1963) was the composer, while Sister Ambrose Padden (1873-1949) was the lyricist. 

Originally titled “A Christmas Carol,” the sheet music listed the authorship as only a “Sister of St. Joseph.” 

“That goes with who we are,” said one of the members of the order. “We’re supposed to be hidden among the people, doing good works but never calling attention to ourselves.” 

Beginning in 1916, the Sisters of St. Joseph began singing the carol each Christmas, and they would teach it to parochial school pupils and parishioners. It was a big hit in western Pennsylvania and Ohio and became a standard carol sung at Christmas Eve Masses.

 

One hundred years later in 2016, reporter Marsha Keefer of the Beaver County (Pa.) Times commented: “It was good fortune that Sister Victoria and Sister Ambrose would become friends and musical collaborators.” 

Barbara Hecht, director of communications for the Sisters of St. Joseph, said: “I’ve read that they actually did a lot of songs…in honor of different occasions.” Only one, however, has endured, “In a Manger Lowly.” 

Sister Victoria further developed her musical talent at Ursuline Convent in Tiffin, Ohio, and she had a long career teaching music in parochial schools, Keefer wrote. 

Sister Ambrose was remembered for her “patience and loving kindness.” She taught English and Latin in diocesan high schools and extension college; some students said she was the “best teacher of English they ever had,” Keefer noted. 

“In a Manger Lowly” stands out for its “simplicity and poignancy – a reverent lullaby about Jesus’ birth.” 

As a tribute to the songwriters, Sister Gerrie Grandpre, Director of Health Resources for the Congregation, said: “I think these women were women of deep prayers, and from prayer and meditation came inspiration.” 

“Sister Gerrie told Keefer: “Every time I hear ‘In a Manger Lowly’ and sing it, it reunites me with the entire community of the Sisters of St. Joseph and the outreach that it has made to God’s people through our sisters in teaching it and through our parishes.” 

“Very lyrical,” she said. “It kind of sticks with you after you’ve sung it and you tend to hear that melody in your mind all day long – which is a nice one to hear.” 

In 1961, the Sisters of St. Joseph recorded “In a Manger Lowly” in the motherhouse chapel as the signature song on a Christmas album, produced as a fundraiser. 

Hecht said 2,000 records were pressed by a New York firm that charged the sisters 42 cents for each album. They sold for $3.98 apiece, leaving the sisters with a profit of $7,120 when all was said and done. Funds were used to extend community outreach programs. 

Sister Gerrie also told Keefer that she remembers taking a telephone call from a man in Beaver County who told her that “playing ‘In a Manger Lowly’ in his house is more important than having a Christmas tree. It’s what makes Christmas.” 

Growing up in Duquesne, Pa., Abby Volk Wagner recalled that her parents’ favorite record to play on the family’s new H-Fi Stereo portable record player was “In a Manger Lowly,” sung by the Sisters at the motherhouse in Baden. 

Wagner said: “It’s still the one album that immediately ‘brings Christmas home’ for me.”