(Lat.: ‘blessed’).
The first word of the canticle of Zechariah (Zachary), ‘Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel’ (Luke i.68–79), sung towards the end of the Office of Lauds in most Latin rites, after the 9th ōdē of the kanōn in the Byzantine morning Office of Orthros (it replaces this ōdē during Eastertide), and before the Nicene Creed at Anglican Matins. It is also the first word of the canticle of David, ‘Benedictus es, Domine Deus Israel patris nostri’ (1 Chronicles xxix.10b–13), the festal canticle sung to the ordinary Office psalmody at Monday Lauds in the Roman monastic and secular Office.
The original assignment of the canticle of Zechariah to Lauds was presumably prompted by the words: ‘the day-spring from on high hath visited us to give light to them that sit in darkness’. Benedict of Nursia referred to the canticle as the ‘canticum de evangelia’, and his earlier contemporary, known only as the ‘Master’, called it simply ‘evangelia’. In the Gregorian (though not the Old Roman) repertory, a special psalmody in each of the modes and with ornate intonations and cadences is reserved for the singing of the Benedictus; the ‘Gospel antiphon’ sung with it is also generally more ornate than the normal Office antiphons. At solemn celebrations of Lauds the incensation of the altar takes place during the singing of this canticle. In the Gallican rite the Benedictus was sung at Mass immediately before the collect, but no evidence regarding the nature of its chant has survived.
Polyphonic music for the Roman Catholic Holy Week Office of Tenebrae, which concludes with Lauds, sometimes included a simple falsobordone or predominantly chordal setting of the Benedictus. Palestrina wrote several settings (some of which may not be authentic) as did Lassus, Victoria and Gesualdo, Corteccia, Antoine de Févin, J.G. Pérez, Tallis and Orazio Vecchi. Polyphonic settings of the text in English have continued to be composed by musicians writing for the Anglican morning Service.
For liturgical texts from the book of Daniel beginning with the word ‘Benedictus’ see Benedicite.
S. Bäumer: Geschichte des Breviers (Freiburg, 1895; Fr. trans., 1905/R)
J. Mearns: The Canticles of the Christian Church, Eastern and Western, in Early and Medieval Times (Cambridge, 1914)
R. Taft: The Liturgy of the Hours East and West: the Origins of the Divine Office and its Meaning for Today (Collegeville, MN, 1986)
J. Harper: The Forms and Orders of Western Liturgy from the Tenth to the Eighteenth Century: a Historical Introduction and Guide for Students and Musicians (Oxford, 1991)
JOHN CALDWELL, JOSEPH DYER