Lina Sandell

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Lina Sandell, born Karolina Wilhelmina Sandell-Berg on October 3, 1832, in Fröderyd, Sweden, was a Swedish poet and hymn writer. She grew up as the daughter of a Lutheran minister and was very close to her father, often staying with him in his study. When she was 12, she suffered partial paralysis, but after praying and reading the Bible one Sunday, she recovered and began writing hymns to thank God. She published her first book of spiritual poetry at 16.

At age 26, her father Jonas Sandell drowned on a boat trip, which deepened her heartache but also her poetic output. She went on to write more than 600 hymns, including “Children of the Heavenly Father” (Tryggare kan ingen vara) and “Day by Day” (Blott en dag). Some of her hymns appeared in the Swedish Church hymnal Den svenska psalmboken. Her work was popularized by Oscar Ahnfelt, who set many of her verses to music and toured Scandinavia with them. Jenny Lind also helped promote her hymns by singing them in concerts and supporting their publication. Lina was part of the Rosenius movement, which faced persecution; a notable moment came when Ahnfelt sang a hymn Lina wrote for a royal audience, and King Karl XV allowed him to sing freely in his kingdoms.

In 1867 Lina married Oscar Berg, a merchant who would later become a member of Parliament, and they lived in Stockholm. They had one child, who died at birth. She was friends with Thor Hartwig Odencrants. In 1892 she fell ill with typhoid fever and died on July 27, 1903, at age 70, and was buried at Solna Church. Berg died later that year from diabetes. A train in southern Sweden is named Lina Sandell, and there is a statue of her at North Park University in Chicago.