Born: Cir­ca 1485, Hof, Up­per Fran­conia, Bay­ern (Ba­var­ia).

Died: March 21, 1541, Stet­tin, Ger­ma­ny; some sus­pect­ed he was poi­soned by his en­e­mies.

A grad­u­ate of the Un­i­ver­si­ty of Leip­zig (BA 1506), Decius be­came a monk, and was in 1519 Probst of the clois­ter at Ste­ter­burg, near Wolf­en­büt­tel. In­clin­ing to Mar­tin Lu­ther’s po­sitions, he left Ste­ter­burg in Ju­ly, 1522, and went to Bruns­wick, where he was ap­point­ed a mas­ter in the St. Kath­er­ine and Egi­dien School. In 1523, he was in­vit­ed by the bur­gess­es of Stet­tin to work there as an evan­gel­i­cal preach­er, along with Paul­us von Rhode. He be­came preach­er at the Church of St. Ni­cho­las; was prob­ab­ly in­st­itut­ed by the town coun­cil in 1256, when von Rhode was in­sti­tut­ed at St. Jacob’s; and at the vis­it­a­tion in 1535 was rec­og­nized as pas­tor of St. Nich­o­las.

Sources

Hymns

1. Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr
   • All Glo­ry Be to God on High
   • Alone to God on High Be Praise
   • Onlie to God on Heich Be Gloir
   • To God Alone on High Be Praise
   • To God Alone the Song We Raise
   • To God on High All Glo­ry Be
   • To God On High Be Thanks and Praise
   • To God the Hygh­est Be Glory Al­ways
2. O Lamm Gott­es un­schul­dig
   • O Lamb of God Most Ho­ly (Russell)
   • O Lamb of God Most Ho­ly (Olsson)

Music

1. St. Peter (Decius)