Hymns by Women Authors in the New Covenant Hymnal
Author: Chuck King
November 13, 2025
In this fourth and final post of a short series looking at our hymnal, I move from women who wrote the hymns to a woman who translated hymns into English. Catherine Winkworth is credited with a mere four hymn translations in The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration (HWC), but her work allows for a broader look at the role of women in Victorian England who shaped English-language hymn-singing for generations.
Catherine Winkworth (1827-1878) grew up in a well-to-do family, receiving a standard education for young women of her generation. She and her sister Susanna became fluent in German and gained reputations for their elegant translations of devotional literature (Susanna) and hymns (Catherine).
Catherine’s translations of Lutheran chorales (hymns) are elegant, remarkably faithful to the original poetry, and are generally sung in English to the same German tunes from which they were translated. Think about that a moment, and consider what an accomplishment it represents. Consider as an example, probably the best-known and most widely sung of her translations, “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” (HWC, 8). If we were to sing this hymn simultaneously with a German congregation (“Lobe den Herrn”) our syllables would match the rhythms, the strong syllables would fall on the same pitches, and we would be expressing the same praise for the same works of God.
Translation nearly always involves some degree of interpretation, so that in one sense the translator is an editor. How remarkable, then, the work of Cathrine Winkworth’s faithful hewing to the originals while crafting exquisite English poetry. Exquisite, and memorable.
Other Winkworth translations in HWC include #413, “Jesus, Priceless Treasure,” a hymn and tune used by J.S. Bach in one of his famous motets. We are likely to sing another translation, “Now Thank We All Our God” (#556), at Thanksgiving. Along with #600, “If You Will Only Let God Guide You,” these last three hymns were written during a time of great upheaval in central Europe (the Thirty Years War) by pastors who experienced the most desperate conditions for their congregations. Translated during the relatively comfortable English Industrial Age (mid-19th century), they continue to resonate with believers in the 21st century.
Other translations still sung in English-speaking churches worldwide include “Wake, Awake, for Night Is Flying,” “Comfort, Comfort, Now My People” (Advent Hymns), “All My Heart This Night Rejoices” (Christmas). Miss Winkworth translated nearly 400 hymns written by more than 170 authors. The last one I will list–of the many still in use– is “Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word” (Martin Luther). “Writing hymns in one’s own language is important work for the Church and certainly a poetic and spiritual gift. Translating hymns to another language while maintaining theological meaning, but also tweaking words and phrases to fit the new language’s meter and rhyme structure, is another work that requires patience, humility, and thoughtfulness.”1
While Catherine Winkworth is honored as the most prolific and successful hymn translator of the 19th century, this was a field in which women made a number of contributions to the church of its day–and ours. Notably Jane L. Borthwick (1813 - 1897), translator of “Be Still, My Soul” (HWC 347) by the German noblewoman Katherina von Schlegel. Well represented in HWC with her own hymns, Frances Havergal (1836-1879) was also in the ranks of translators of German hymns.
Singing biblical words with devotional impact is a spiritual discipline that Catherine Winkworth embraced in practice and in her translations. Let us thank God that she was an instrument to introduce so many significant hymns to the English church.
Chuck King, M.M., M.A., is Music Director of New Covenant Church in Naperville. See the earlier installments in this series in the NCC Blog.
Photo by Geoff Chang on Unsplash.
1https://blog.cph.org/worship/composer-of-the-month-catherine-winkworth (accessed 20 September 2025) Nathan Grimes, CPH Blog, “Hymn Translator of the Month: Catherine Winkworth,” Concordia Publishing House.
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