HYMN SPOTLIGHT
Native American Hymn of Praise (1842)
Joseph Renville, 1779-1846
Renville, the son of a French-Canadian trader and a Dakota woman, lived with his Dakota relatives near present day St. Paul, MN until he was ten years old. After receiving his education in Canada, he returned to the area to establish a fur trading post and a Christian mission school. He is known for helping to translate the Bible into the Dakota language and for writing several hymns which he set to traditional Dakota melodies. This anthem is an English paraphrase of two of the original seven stanzas of this hymn.