The Magdeburg Cathedral Pastor Siegfried Saccus and Development of the Lutheran Funeral Biography

Abstract

Some early Lutheran funerals for rulers and reformers included Latin funeral orations as part of the religious funeral ceremonies. This provided the impetus for the second generation of Lutheran pastors to include biographical information, in the rhetorical pattern of the oration, as part of their funeral sermons. The funeral sermons of the Magdeburg cathedral pastor Siegfried Saccus (1527-96) provide a clear example of the varied homiletic possibilities in this newly emerging tradition. This is especially evident in the relationship between the exegetical and the biographical portions of his sermons. At the beginning of his thirty years as a pastor Saccus favored the biography, sometimes to the exclusion of the exegesis. Later on, he found a balance between the two. A closer look at this first Lutheran preacher of the Magdeburg cathedral also reacquaints us with a member of the second generation of Lutheran pastors who guided their flock through the often confusing time of confessionalization.