"It Is Well with My Soul" is a very influential hymn

Hymn

A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...

 penned by hymnist Horatio Spafford

Horatio Spafford

Horatio Gates Spafford was a prominent American lawyer, best known for penning the Christian hymn It Is Well With My Soul, following a family tragedy in which four of his daughters died....

 and composed by Philip Bliss

Philip Bliss

Philip Paul Bliss was an American composer, conductor, bass-baritone writer of hymns and a Gospel singer. He wrote many well-known hymns, including Almost Persuaded, Hallelujah, What a Saviour!, Let the Lower Lights Be Burning, Wonderful Words of Life, and the tune for Horatio Spafford's It Is...

.

This hymn was written after several traumatic events in Spafford’s life. The first was the death of his only son in 1871 at the age of four, shortly followed by the great Chicago Fire which ruined him financially (he had been a successful lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

). Then in 1873, he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on the SS Ville du Havre, but sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business concerning zoning problems following the Great Chicago Fire. While crossing the Atlantic

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sailing ship, the Loch Earn

Loch Line

The Loch Line of Glasgow was a group of ill-fated colonial clippers that belonged to Messrs William Aitken and James Lilburn. Together, they operated a line of sailing ships between the United Kingdom and Australia between 1867 and 1911.-History:...

, and all four of Spafford's daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, "Saved alone . . .". Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.

Bliss called his tune Ville du Havre, from the name of the stricken vessel.

The Spaffords later had three more children, one of whom (a son) died in infancy. In 1881 the Spaffords, including baby Bertha and newborn Grace, set sail for Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

. The Spaffords moved to Jerusalem and helped found a group called the American Colony; its mission was to serve the poor. The colony later became the subject of the Nobel prize winning Jerusalem, by Swedish

Swedish literature

Swedish literature refers to literature written in the Swedish language or by writers from Sweden.The first literary text from Sweden is the Rök Runestone, carved during the Viking Age circa 800 AD. With the conversion of the land to Christianity around 1100 AD, Sweden entered the Middle Ages,...

 novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

ist Selma Lagerlöf

Selma Lagerlöf

Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf was a Swedish author. She was the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, and most widely known for her children's book Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige ....

.

Although the original manuscript reads "know" at the end of the third line, almost all recordings and written reproductions read "say".

The Georgia Southern University

Georgia Southern University

Georgia Southern University is a national public university located on a campus in Statesboro, Georgia, USA. Founded in 1906, it is part of the University System of Georgia and is the largest center of higher education in the southern half of Georgia offering 117 academic majors in a comprehensive...

 marching band Southern Pride

Georgia Southern University Southern Pride Marching Band

Southern Pride is the name for the marching band of Georgia Southern University located in Statesboro, Georgia.At two hundred members strong, the university's marching band celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2007. Southern Pride performs at all home football games, select away athletic events,...

 plays the song at the end of each win. Christian metalcore

Metalcore

Metalcore is a subgenre of heavy metal combining various elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. The name is a portmanteau of the names of the two genres. The term took on its current meaning in the mid-1990s, describing bands such as Earth Crisis, Deadguy and Integrity...

 band, Haste the Day

Haste the Day

Haste the Day was an American Christian metalcore band signed with Solid State Records that was formed in Carmel, Indiana 2001. Their band is named after a lyric in the hymn "It Is Well With My Soul." The band released their debut release, an extended play titled That They May Know You, in 2002,...

, named their band after a verse in the hymn.

"It Is Well with My Soul" was recorded and released by Christian rock

Christian rock

Christian rock is a form of rock music played by individuals and bands whose members are Christians and who often focus the lyrics on matters concerned with the Christian faith. The extent to which their lyrics are explicitly Christian varies between bands...

 bands Audio Adrenaline

Audio Adrenaline

Audio Adrenaline was a Christian rock band that formed in the late 1980s at Kentucky Christian University in Grayson, Kentucky. During the band's 17-year existence, they were awarded two Grammy awards, multiple Dove Awards and they released 17 number one singles. They were regular performers at the...

 and Kutless

Kutless

Kutless is a Christian rock band from Portland, Oregon formed in 1999. Since their formation, they have released six studio albums including their latest, It Is Well. The band has also released a live album, Live from Portland. Currently, they have sold almost 2 million records.-Biography:Formed in...

 in 1999 and 2009 respectively. The Kutless version, which is the title track of their 2009 album, is played and sung in a Hard rock

Hard rock

Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...

 style.

In 2008, Kristyn Getty

Kristyn Getty

Kristyn Elizabeth Rebekah Getty is an Irish recording artist and worship leader. With her husband, she co-writes many new songs and hymns.An acclaimed soloist in her own right, Kristyn began singing as a teenager in her family's church in Northern Ireland...

 sang it at a confrence in the US, becoming a hit on YouTube.

In January 2011, Hillsong Music

Hillsong Music

Hillsong Music is Christian music produced by Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia as well as offshoot churches, Hillsong London and Hillsong Kiev...

 recorded a version of the hymn after singing a "version of the old hymn" in church on January 16th. The song was recorded in Sydney in three days, mixed in England overnight and finally mastered in LA. All proceeds from the recording go to help the Queensland Flood Relief Effort. This version of the song features Darlene Zschech

Darlene Zschech

Darlene Joyce Zschech is an Australian Pentecostal worship leader and singer-songwriter who primarily writes praise and worship songs. She is the former worship pastor of Hillsong Church and is currently a member of Compassionart, a charity founded by Martin Smith.-Biography:As a young adult...

 singing solo and an added Bridge written by Reuben Morgan

Reuben Morgan

Reuben Morgan is the worship pastor and one of several worship leaders and songwriters alongside Darlene Zschech at the Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia. He has written songs such as "Eagles Wings", "Hear Our Praises", "I Give You My Heart", "My Redeemer Lives" and "Mighty to Save", which won...

 and Ben Fielding.

External links

• The American Colony in Jerusalem (A Library of Congress Exhibition) : Includes an image of the original manuscript
• SpaffordHymn.com : The original Hymn manuscript penned by Horatio
• McCann, Forrest M. (1997). Hymns & History: An Annotated Survey of Sources. Abilene
  Abilene, Texas
  Abilene is a city in Taylor and Jones counties in west central Texas. The population was 117,063 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Abilene Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2006 estimated population of 158,063. It is the county seat of Taylor County...
  
  , Texas
  Texas
  Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
  
  : ACU Press. Pp. 327–328, 520, 597. ISBN 0-89112-058-0