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German monk and hymnwriter From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nikolaus Decius (also Degius, Deeg, Tech a Curia, and Nickel von Hof;[1] c. 1485 – 21 March 1541[2] (others say 1546[3]) was a German monk, hymn-writer, Protestant reformer and composer.
He was probably born in Hof in Upper Franconia, Bavaria, around 1485. He studied at the University of Leipzig and obtained a master's degree at Wittenburg University in 1523 and became a monk.[4] Although a monk, he was an advocate of the Protestant Reformation and a disciple of Martin Luther.[4] He was Probst of the cloister at Steterburg from 1519 until July 1522 when he was appointed a master in the St. Katherine and Egidien School in Braunschweig.[2][5] He wrote in 1523 "Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr", a German paraphrase of the Latin Gloria, adapted by Luther in 1525.[6] Decius's version was first sung on Easter Day at Braunschweig on 5 April 1523.[7] Decius's Low German version first appeared in print in Gesang Buch by Joachim Sluter, printed in 1525.[7]
In 1526, Decius became preacher at the Church of St. Nicholas in Stettin at the same time as Paulus von Rhode was appointed preacher at St. James's in Stettin.[2] In 1535 he became pastor of St. Nicholas and died there in March 1541 after a suspected poisoning.[2] Shortly before his death he wrote the hymn "O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig" (O Lamb of God, innocent) sung on a tune from the 13th century. Decius's version was first published in Anton Cornivus's Christliche Kirchen-Ordnung in 1542.[4] Johann Sebastian Bach used it as a cantus firmus in the opening chorus of his St Matthew Passion. It was translated into English by Arthur Tozer Russell in the 19th century.[4]
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