Jaroslav Vajda was an American hymnist.

Vajda was born to a Lutheran pastor of Slovak descent. His father, Rev. John Vajda, was a pastor in East Chicago, Ind. at Holy Trinity Slovak Lutheran Church. This is where Jaroslav had his beginning learning from his father and his mother, Maria. Jaroslav had two brothers, Ludovit and Edward, both pastors, now deceased.

Vajda received musical training in childhood and began translating classical Slovak poetry at age eighteen. Vajda did not write his first 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...

 until age 49. From that time until his death in 2008 at age 89, he wrote over 200 original and translated hymns that appear worldwide in more than 65 hymnal

Hymnal

Hymnal or hymnary or hymnbook is a collection of hymns, i.e. religious songs, usually in the form of a book. The earliest hand-written hymnals are known since Middle Ages in the context of European Christianity...

s. He also published two collections of hymn texts, numerous books, translations, and articles. Vajda served on hymnal commissions for Hymnal Supplement (1969) and Lutheran Book of Worship

Lutheran Book of Worship

Lutheran Book of Worship is a worship book and hymnal used by several Lutheran denominations in North America. It is often referred to by its initials as the LBW, and in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America the LBW is sometimes called the "green book" as opposed to With One Voice, a...

(1978).

Vajda is a Fellow of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada

Hymn Society in the United States and Canada

The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada, founded in 1922 as The Hymn Society of America and renamed in 1991, is a not-for-profit organization for those people who:* believe that congregational song is an integral component of worship...

, and is the recipient of numerous honorary doctorates recognizing hymnic contributions. After 18 years in a mostly bilingual ministry he became the editor of This Day Magazine and then became a book editor and developer at Concordia Publishing House. Jaroslav Vajda retired in 1986.

Hymns

List of hymns written by Jaroslav Vajda (not exhaustive):

• "God of the Sparrow"
• "Before the Marvel of This Night"
• "Ever Since the Savior Came"
• "A Dove Flew Down From Heaven"
• "Slumber, Lovely Baby"
• "Someone Special"
• "Where Shepherds Lately Knelt"
• "Peace Came to Earth"
• "Wake, Shepherds, Awake"
• "The King the Wise Men Found"
• "Go, My Children, with My Blessing"
• "Then the Glory"
• "Now the Silence"
• "In Hopelessness and Near Despair"
• "Jesus, Take Us to the Mountain"
• "When You Woke That Thursday Morning"
• Amid the World's Bleak Wilderness