{{Short description|German monk and hymnwriter}} thumb|Former Franziskanerkloster, School of Nikolaus Decius in Hof '''Nikolaus Decius''' (also ''Degius'', ''Deeg'', ''Tech a Curia'', and ''Nickel von Hof'';<ref>{{Cite Grove |last=Müller |first=Hans-Christian |last2=Korth |first2=Hans-Otto |title=Decius, Nikolaus|name-list-style=amp}}</ref> c. 1485 – 21 March 1541<ref name="BC"/> (others say 1546<ref>{{cite web|url=http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/0001/bsb00016319/images/index.html?seite=558|author=Fornacon, Siegfried |title=Decius, Nikolaus. In: Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB). |publisher=Band 3, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin |year=1957|page=542}}</ref>) was a German monk, hymn-writer, Protestant reformer and composer.

==Biography== 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.<ref name="McKimMcKim1993">{{cite book|last=McKim|first=LindaJo K.|title=The Presbyterian hymnal companion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kde8yd0INHsC&pg=PA76|access-date=3 April 2012|date=1 June 1993|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|isbn=978-0-664-25180-2|page=76}}</ref> Although a monk, he was an advocate of the Protestant Reformation and a disciple of Martin Luther.<ref name="McKimMcKim1993"/> 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.<ref name="BC">{{cite web|url=http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Decius-Nikolaus.htm|title=Nikolaus Decius (Hymn-Writer, Composer)|publisher=Bach Cantatas.com|access-date=3 March 2012}}</ref><ref name="Goltz1843">{{cite book|last=Goltz|first=Georg Friedrich Gottlob|title=Ausführliche erklärung einiger der vorzüglichsten evangelischen kirchenlieder für schule und haus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z1tVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA201|access-date=3 April 2012|year=1843|publisher=T. Scherk|page=201}}</ref> He wrote in 1523 "Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr", a German paraphrase of the Latin ''Gloria'', adapted by Luther in 1525.<ref name="Leahy2011">{{cite book|last=Leahy|first=Anne|title=J. S. Bach's "Leipzig" Chorale Preludes: Music, Text, Theology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qJTSosFmynMC&pg=PA179|access-date=3 April 2012|date=16 October 2011|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-8181-5|page=179}}</ref> Decius's version was first sung on Easter Day at Braunschweig on 5 April 1523.<ref name="Glover1995">{{cite book|last=Glover|first=Raymond F.|title=The Hymnal 1982 companion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IGrJa47oMA0C&pg=PA789|access-date=3 April 2012|date=February 1995|publisher=Church Publishing, Inc.|isbn=978-0-89869-143-6|page=789}}</ref> Decius's Low German version first appeared in print in ''Gesang Buch'' by Joachim Sluter, printed in 1525.<ref name="Glover1995"/>

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.<ref name="BC"/> In 1535 he became pastor of St. Nicholas and died there in March 1541 after a suspected poisoning.<ref name="BC"/> 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.<ref name="McKimMcKim1993"/> 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.<ref name="McKimMcKim1993"/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Sources== * Ludger Stühlmeyer: ''Nikolaus Decius – ein Kirchenlieddichter aus Hochfranken.'' In: ''Jahrbuch der Erzdiözese Bamberg 2014.'' Heinrichs-Verlag Bamberg, 89. Jahrgang 2013, S.&nbsp;72–76. * Ludger Stühlmeyer: ''Die Kirchenlieder des Hofers Nicolaus Decius.'' In:''Curia sonans. Die Musikgeschichte der Stadt Hof. Eine Studie zur Kultur Oberfrankens. Von der Gründung des Bistums Bamberg bis zur Gegenwart.'' Phil.Diss., Bayerische Verlagsanstalt, Heinrichs-Verlag Bamberg 2010, {{ISBN|978-3-89889-155-4}}, S.&nbsp;110–112, 135–137, 357–358. * Werner Merten: Decius, Nikolaus. In: Wolfgang Herbst: Wer ist wer im Gesangbuch? S. 73-74 Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2001, {{ISBN|3-525-50323-7}} * {{BBKL|d/decius_n|band=1|spalten=1239-1240|author=Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz|artikel=DECIUS (Tech), Nikolaus}} * Th. Ruys. P. D. Utrecht 1919 (Diss. Amsterdam). H. J. Jaanus. P. D. (Documenta Reformatoria 1960, 247ff.). * {{NDB|3|542|543|Decius, Nikolaus|Siegfried Fornaçon|119486725}} {{Lutheran hymnody}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Decius, Nikolaus}} Category:German Protestant hymnwriters Category:People from Upper Franconia Category:German Protestant clergy Category:People from Hof, Bavaria Category:1485 births Category:1541 deaths