Title: Order for the Lord's Supper

Description

This German text of the Ordnu[n]g des Herren Nachtmal (Order for the Lord's Supper) provides an inside view of the developing Christian Reformation in the 16th century. Martin Bucer (1491–1551) led the reforms in Strassburg (present-day Strasbourg, France), and this pamphlet of 24 pages documents the changes underway in the mass—the central liturgical service of the church—and in the rite of baptism and the blessing of marriage. The Ordnung includes printed music for the sung parts of the liturgy as well as woodcuts of King David before God, the Resurrection of Jesus, and a performance of sacred music (with King David and other musicians). The printer, Johann Schwan, had been a Franciscan in Basel who joined Martin Luther in Wittenberg in 1522 and then moved to Strassburg to learn the craft of printing. The interpretation of the mass continued to be controversial throughout the 16th century and beyond.