O faithful God, O pitying heart

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O faithful God, O pitying heart

Translator: Catherine Winkworth; Author: Paul Gerhardt
Published in 2 hymnals

Translator: Catherine Winkworth

Catherine Winkworth (b. Holborn, London, England, 1827; d. Monnetier, Savoy, France, 1878) is well known for her English translations of German hymns; her translations were polished and yet remained close to the original. Educated initially by her mother, she lived with relatives in Dresden, Germany, in 1845, where she acquired her knowledge of German and interest in German hymnody. After residing near Manchester until 1862, she moved to Clifton, near Bristol. A pioneer in promoting women's rights, Winkworth put much of her energy into the encouragement of higher education for women. She translated a large number of German hymn texts from hymnals owned by a friend, Baron Bunsen. Though often altered, these translations continue to be used i… Go to person page >

Author: Paul Gerhardt

Paul Gerhardt (b. Gräfenheinichen, Saxony, Germany, 1607; d. Lubben, Germany, 1676), famous author of Lutheran evangelical hymns, studied theology and hymnody at the University of Wittenberg and then was a tutor in Berlin, where he became friends with Johann Crüger. He served the Lutheran parish of Mittenwalde near Berlin (1651-1657) and the great St. Nicholas' Church in Berlin (1657-1666). Friederich William, the Calvinist elector, had issued an edict that forbade the various Protestant groups to fight each other. Although Gerhardt did not want strife between the churches, he refused to comply with the edict because he thought it opposed the Lutheran "Formula of Concord," which condemned some Calvinist doctrines. Consequently, he was r… Go to person page >

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Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	O faithful God, O pitying heart
German Title:	Ach treuer Gott, barmherziges Herz
Author:	Paul Gerhardt
Translator:	Catherine Winkworth
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

*Ach! treuer Gott, barmherzigs Herz. P. Gerhardt. [Cross and Consolation.] Founded on a prayer "for patience under great trial," No. xxv. in Class iii. of J. Arndt's Paradies-gartlein, 1612. Appeared in Crüger's Praxis pietatis melica, Frankfurt, 1656, No. 381, in 16 stanzas of 7 lines, and included in many subsequent hymn-books, as recently in the Unverfälschter Liedersegen, 1851, No. 693; also in Wackernagel's edition of his Geistliche Lieder, No. 57; Bachmann's ed., No. 80.
Translations in common use:—

2. 0 faithful God! 0 pitying heart, a good translation, omitting stanzas iii., ix., xi., xiii., xv., in the 2nd Ser. 1858, of Miss Winkworth's Lyra Germanica. p. 182, and thence, in the Gilman-Schaff, Library of Religious Poetry, ed. 1883, p. 837. The translations of stanzas x., xii., xiv., xvi., beginning, "O Thou, who diedst to give us life," appear as No. 327, in Church Praise, 1883.
[Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]

--Excerpts from John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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