Who translated the Polish carol "W żłobie leży" as "Infant Holy, Infant Lowly"?

Edith Margaret Gellibrand Reed translated “W żłobie leży” as “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly.”

Reed was a British musician and playwright who produced the English translation in 1920. Her words transformed the traditional Polish carol into the version widely sung by English-speaking choirs, beginning with the image of the infant Christ lying in a cattle stall.

The Polish original, whose title means “In the Manger He Lies,” is a traditional Christmas carol. Reed found it in the Polish hymnal Śpiewniczek Pieśni Kościelne, published in 1908, although the song may be much older. Its text has sometimes been associated with Piotr Skarga, but that attribution is not certain.

The melody has a distinctly Polish character and is connected with the polonaise, a national dance later strongly associated with Frédéric Chopin. The translation is therefore not a new composition, but an English rendering of an older Polish text and tune.