ANGELUS
ANGELUS is attributed to Georg Joseph (Germany, 17th century), a musician at the court of the prince-bishop of Breslau. It was published in the 1657 hymnal Heilige SeelenLust, edited by Joseph. In that hymnal the tune was associated with the Johann Scheffler text “Du meiner Seelen giildne Ziehr.” In fact, the tune’s name comes from the name Scheffler took after his conversion to Roman Catholicism: Angelus Silesius. Joseph 470 CLOSE OF WORSHIP provided most of the musical settings for Scheffler’s texts; their joint work was pub lished in the four books of Heilige Seelenlust (1657, expanded to five books, 1668). In the nineteenth century the tune was adapted to its present form and was published in the Munich hymnal Cantica Spiritualia (1847). Sing stanzas 1 and 5 in unison and stanzas 2-4 in harmony. Or, for stanzas 2-4, divide the congregation into three groups representing prophets, priests, and kings, and have them sing their corresponding stanzas. Reginald Thatcher’s more modern WILDERNESS (608) is a suggested alternate tune for this text. Liturgical Use: As a dismissal or recessional hymn; in conjunction with sermons on “prophet, priest, and king”; at high festivals of the church.
Stanza Arc
The narrative or theological arc traced by this tune's stanzas: From Christ's historical healing ministry (stanza 1) through the proclamation of His redemptive work (stanza 2), to personal petition for spiritual and physical wholeness (stanza 3), culminating in doxological confidence in Christ's healing grace (stanza 4)