Christus, der uns selig macht

Christus, der uns selig macht. Michael Weisse* (ca. 1480-1534). Printed in Ein new Geseng buchlen (Jungbunzlau, Bohemia, 1531). It is Weisse’s version of a Latin prayer, ‘Patris sapientia,/veritas divina’, ascribed to Aegidius of Colonna (1247-1316) (see Liederkunde zum EG, 8, p. 49). Weisse produced his translation in eight 8-line verses (see Wackernagel, Das Deutsche Kirchenlied III. 259), all of which are retained, with slight alterations, in EG (EG 77). It is a hymn on the Passion, with a strong narrative element that begins with Christ being taken in the middle of the night ‘wie ein Dieb’ (‘like a thief’), and ends with a prayer for help from the Christ who suffered but who makes us...