When the clouds of trouble gather and afflictions grieve thee sore

Author: Johann Gottfried Olearius

Olearius, Johann Gottfried, son of Dr. Gottfried Olearius, pastor of St. Ulrich's Church at Halle, was born at Halle, Sept. 25, 1635. He entered the University of Leipzig in 1653, and graduated M.A. 1656, residing also for short periods at other German Universities. In 1658 he was ordained as assistant to his father at St. Mary's Church in Halle, where he became diaconus in 1662, and in 1685 pastor and also superintendent of the second portion of the dis¬trict of the Saale. He was finally appointed, in 1688, as chief pastor, superintendent, and consistorialrath at Arnstadt, and also professor of Theology in the Gymnasium there. He died at Arnstadt, May 21, 1711, after having been for some years totally blind. (Allgemeine Deutsche Biographi… Go to person page >

Translator: Anna Hoppe

Anna Hoppe was born on May 7, 1889 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She left school after the eighth grade and worked as a stenographer. She began writing patriotic verses when she was very young and by the age of 25 she was writing spiritual poetry. After some of her poems appeared in the Northwestern Lutheran, a periodical of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, they came to the attention of Dr. Adolf Hult of Augustana Seminary, Rock Island, Illinois. He influenced her to write her Songs for the Church Year (1928). Several hymnals include her work, which was usually set to traditional chorale melodies, although she also made a number of translations. She died on August 2, 1941 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NN, from Cyber Hymnal  Go to person page >