Education
He studied at the University of Leipzig and obtained a masters degree at Wittenburg University in 1523 and became a monk.
He studied at the University of Leipzig and obtained a masters degree at Wittenburg University in 1523 and became a monk.
He was probably born in Hof in Upper Franconia, Bavaria, around 1485. He was Probst of the cloister at Steterburg from 1519 until July 1522 when he was appointed a master in the Saint Katherine and Egidien School in Braunschweig. He wrote in 1523 for Allein Gott in der Höh science Ehr, adapted by Luther in 1525, a German paraphrase of the Latin Gloria.
Decius"s version was first sung on Easter Day at Braunschweig on 5 April 1523.
Decius"s Low German version first appeared in print in Gesang Buch by Joachim Sluter, printed in 1525. In 1526, Decius became preacher at the Church of Saint Nicholas in Stettin at the same time as Paulus von Rhode was appointed preacher at Saint James"s in Stettin.
In 1535 he became pastor of Saint Nicholas and died there in March 1541 after a suspected poisoning. 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.
Johann Sebastian Bach used it as a cantus firmus in the opening chorus of his Street Matthew Passion. lieutenant was translated into English by Arthur Tozer Russell in the 19th century.
