Volbrecht Nagel, commonly known as V. Nagel, was a German missionary to the Malabar coast of India.
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Volbrecht Nagel was born on 3 November 1867 in Hesse, North German Confederation. He grew up in a pious family, but lost his parents at a young age. At the age of 18, Nagel was born again after hearing the gospel from a cobbler turned itinerant preacher and gave his life to Christ. With a desire to be a missionary, he moved to Basel, Switzerland and joined the Basel Mission Training Institute in 1886 and graduated 6 years later. He became a Reverend in the Evangelical Lutheran Mission in 1893.
Nagel came to Cannanore, on the Malabar Coast as a Reverend in December 1893. He became the head of the Basel Mission center in Vaniankulam. The burden of running the schools, and the small scale industries of the Basel Mission in Vaniankulam became a stumbling block in his goal of independent ministry. In 1896, he left the Lutheran Church and Vaniankulam and went south without an aim. On his trip, he saw a prayer center in Kunnamkulam and met Paramel Itoop, a new believer. He decided to start his work at Kunnamkulam, an ancient bastion of Christianity in India. To be part of the local community, he learned Malayalam. The community in Kunnamkulam received him as one of their own, as he wrote, and spoke in Malayalam. In April 1897, Nagel married Harriet Mitchell, an Anglo-Indian who was a teacher at Kunnamkulam. A few months later, they went to the Nilgiris and met the English Brethren Missionary, Handley Bird. The following June, Nagel was baptized by immersion by Handley Bird at Coimbatore. In 1906, he started an orphanage and a home for widows at Nellikunnu near Trichur, named Rehoboth which still stands today.
In 1914, Nagel traveled back to his native Germany. His plan was to send his older children to England for education and return to India in 6 months, but the beginning of World War I prevented his return. As a national of the German Empire, he could not enter British administered Malabar. In 1914, he moved to Switzerland. Harriet and three children were back in Malabar Coast, while the two older children were in England. The letter he sent to the assembly fellowship in Paravur four years prior to his death reflects the hunger in his heart for souls in Malabar. That letter contained the following words, “My sweetest treasures are in India. My heart belongs to there". But the Lord did not permit his desire to be fulfilled. In due course he became afflicted with palsy and became bedridden. While teaching at Weidenest Bible School, Nagel had a stroke and died on 12 May 1921 and was buried there. Harriet was able to reach Germany and took care of him. Nagel had 7 children, 5 boys and 2 girls. One boy and a girl died in early childhood. Harriet Nagel died on 27 January 1935.[1]
In 1898, Nagel wrote a book called Christian Baptism. He wrote many songs and hymns in Malayalam that are sung even today by all Christian denominations. Nagel is regarded with great esteem by the Malayalee Christian community for all his work in bringing the Gospel to Kerala.
Though his mother tongue was German, while in Malabar Coast not only did he learn their language Malayalam ; but composed hymns in very good poetical language. They are still used in various gatherings and in church services.
A few of the hymns in Malayalam and their translations in English are given below:
His translations include -
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