The admirably wide-ranging education received by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy went far beyond the subjects generally valued in his time such as literature, painting and drawing, the study of foreign languages and training in business matters. Brought up as a member of the German Jewish community, he was baptized, together with other members of his family, as a Protestant Christian, and to a greater extent than any other composer of his time his education, journeys throughout Europe, and also his concern with the works of Bach and Handel gave him a wide but not uncritical knowledge of church music. With compositions for both Protestant and Catholic use in Germany and pieces for the Anglican Church be put into practice what is known today as ecumenical thinking. The incomplete oratorio “Christus” was intended to form a trilogy with “St. Paul” and “Elijah” – the Old and New Testament, Judaism and Christianity, brought together in music founded on the tradition of Bach and Handel. Mendelssohn’s death at the age of 38 prevented what might have been a message of lasting significance from coming to fulfillment.