Under the title Membra Jesu nostri patientis sanctissima, Dietrich Buxtehude presents as a cycle seven formally independent cantatas. The seven cantatas share a similar, though not identical, structure. At the heart of each cantata is an aria setting three strophes from the medieval oratio beginning "Salve mundi salutare" and known in a seventeenth-century form as "Rhythmica oratio ad unum quodlibet membrorum Christi patientis et a cruce pendentis." The aria is preceded by a concerto setting a Bible verse, and in all but one case is followeed by a repetition of the concerto; in the final cantata, the repetition of the ible verse is replaced with an Amen. Each cantata begins with a brief instrumental sonata.
