HYMN ANNIVERSARIES

100th Anniversary since her death

Lina Sandell (L.S.)

1832-1903

Lina Sandell (Caroline Wilhelmina Sandell Berg) died 100 years ago July 28, 1903. 

Born to a Swedish Lutheran pastor in Fröderyd, in Småland, Sweden, she grew up in the small village in the middle of lakes and woods  An intensely pious young girl, she soon learned her Bible and Catechism, and began while she was quite young, to write hymns.  At her confirmation she rejoiced that

she was now married to her Bridegroom Jesus.

When she was about sixteen, she wrote the famous hymn, "Children of the Heavenly Father."  This became a beloved hymn of the Swedish revival almost from the beginning. 

As she grew in understanding and skill, she began translating edifying literature from English and German for publication in the edifying magazines of the time, especially Carl Olof Rosenius" Pietisten.  When she was a young woman, friends of her father asked her to work for the publishing company of the revival, Evangeliska FosterlandStiftelsen.  She worked there until 1901.

During her life, she wrote almost 2000 hymn and song texts, translated countless articles, wrote many books for children, and edited several magazines. The early Swedish Lutheran immigrants to America published her songs in books known as Hemlandssånger (Songs of the Native Land).  In 1892 Swedish Augustana published their final authorized version of the Hemlandssånger.  Of the five hundred songs included in the song book, 117 were attributed to Sandell. 

Not many of her songs were translated into English, however.  Only two were included in the Augustana Hymnal (1925).   Her hymns "Day by Day" and "Thy Holy Wings" were included in With One Voice (1995), and have since become favorites among members of the ELCA.  The Covenant Church hymnal includes twelve of her hymns.