Ruben Saillens

SAILLENS, Ruben. b. 24 June 1855, Saint-Jean-du-Gard Cévennes; d. 5 January 1942, Condé-sur-Noireau, Normandy. He was a French Baptist Pastor, evangelist, journalist, poet and hymnwriter. Born into a Reformed family, his father served a Free Church in Lyon. He started work in a bank. During 1873-1874 he received Bible training at the East London Bible Institute. The Mission Populaire, founded in Paris after the Commune (1870-71) by a Congregationalist minister Robert W. McAll (1821-93), engaged Saillens as soloist and evangelist. There he met Eugène Bersier*, Théodore Monod* and Ira D. Sankey*, whose Sacred Songs (edition of 1873) he adapted and sang. McAll’s Cantiques de la Mission...