Wittenberger Agenden siebenbürgisch-sächsischer Geistlichen
Agendas of Transylvanian Saxon Clergymen Printed in Wittenberg

Summary/Abstract: After introductory regards on the Lutheran Reform of the Roman Mess, the paper’s emphasis shifts to the comparison of agendas printed in the 16th Century Wittenberg, belonging to three cultural institutions in Sibiu: The Library of the Brukenthal Museum, The Sibiu County Department of the Romanian National Archives and the Central Archives of the Evangelical Church A. C. in Romania. The comparison was carried out by analyzing the supralibros of the hardcovers, ownership marks on the endpapers and title pages etc. as well as the handwritings and other interventions made by owners on liturgical texts and structures. The result of this brief investigation is the confirmation of the long-term use of agendas by Saxon pastors and preachers, beginning with their acquisition in Germany between 1550–1578 and until the middle of the nineteenth century. Saxon clergymen did not strictly follow the liturgical texts and elements proposed by the agendas; instead, they used them according to their personal needs in performing divine services in their churches. While retaining the structure and certain texts of the Roman Mess, adapted to Lutheran principles of faith, they took over and adapted the texts of the Wittenberg agendas, making changes to the printed text through abstractions, annotations, underlining etc., but also by mechanical interventions, cutting out the prayers they needed for public worship. A special model of use constitutes the 1554 agenda, originally printed as an aid to the reform of the churches in the Principality of Mecklenburg. The Transylvanian owners have added 35 handwritten folios with usual texts of worship in the Evangelical Church of Vard (Sibiu County) from the first half of the 17th century. Thus, we learn not only the content of certain liturgical elements, but also their particularities compared to those in northeast Germany.

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