DaVigil Code, March issue

This clue appeared in the March 2007 issue of Today’s Parish Minister.

If you Google “Caesar’s Cipher,” you will learn that a Caesar's cipher is a simple substitution cipher in which each letter in the original message is replaced by a letter some fixed number of positions further down the alphabet. For example, with a shift of 3, A would be replaced by D, B would become E, and so on. The method is named after Julius Caesar, who used it to communicate with his generals.

If you go to the Web address listed in the clue, you will find a “calculator” that will decipher the message for you, using a shift of 23 (“encrypted three and twenty more provides the key”). Type the encrypted text into the “Shift cipher” box, set the decryption key to 23, and click on “decrypt.” You will get the following unencrypted text:

Saints awake the victory’s won.
Death has fled trod down by light.
Angels hymn the sheep now one.
Ransomed on this holy night.

What is the church’s hidden treasure? If you haven’t figured out yet, all will be revealed in the next issue of Today’s Parish Minister.