That is really cool that a member of your congregation is related to him. Like I said, I taught my children the German words to it when they were young, telling them, "that's the way it was written, that's the way we should sing it ".At least that kind of reasoning worked with them back then 
The words to Stille Nacht actually come more naturally to me in German than they do in English, because it just how I have always sung it, since about the age of 5. I think she is blessed with a very cool genealogy. That has to be the most popular and beautiful Christmas hymn I would think. All of my German relatives lived in Mt. Prospect, I was the 5th or 6th generation to grow up there. Friedrich Busse is listed as the founder of Mt Prospect, ILL. My grandmother's mother (Marie Busse) was the granddaughter of Friedrich, and my grandmother's father was William Kirchhoff. 2 of my grandmother's sisters married 2 Freise brothers, who were from Schaumberg, ILL, they had the farm where Motorola now is, if anyone knows the area. susan voth(stier, busse, kirchhoff, behr, behrens)