Media vita in morte sumus
Media vita in morte sumus.
Latin antiphon, perhaps 8th century. This antiphon was credited to Notker Balbulus* by the St Gall historian J. Metzler in 1613, with a story about workmen building a bridge and placing themselves in danger; but this attribution is insecure. It was found in Germany in the Middle Ages as ‘En mitten in des lebens zeyt’ and as ‘Mytten wir ym leben synd/ mit den todt umbfangen’ (Wackernagel, Das Deutsche Kirchenlied II. 749-50). Martin Luther* altered and expanded this into his ‘Mitten wir im Leben sind’* of 1524, which emphasised the saving blood of Christ and the mercy of God. A version is still in EG and in Gotteslob.
In English translation, ‘In the midst of life...
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. "Media vita in morte sumus."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press. Web. 3 Jul. 2025.<
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/m/media-vita-in-morte-sumus>.
Chicago style (see The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Ed.)
. "Media vita in morte sumus."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press, accessed July 3, 2025,
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/m/media-vita-in-morte-sumus.