Benedicite
Christian song of praise

The Benedicite (also Benedicite, omnia opera Domini or A Song of Creation) is a canticle that is used in the Catholic Liturgy of the Hours, and is also used in Anglican and Lutheran worship. The text is either verses 35–65 or verses 35–66 of The Song of the Three Children. Newer versions often omit the final verse, and may reduce the number of occurrences of the refrain "sing his praise and exalt him for ever" (or its equivalent).
In Catholic tradition, the canticle can also be sung or recited in its complete form as a thanksgiving after Holy Mass. Bible passages from the Book of Daniel (Dan. 3, 57-88 and 56) and Psalm 148 form the core of this canticle.
Text
Latin
The text follows the Catholic Office of Lauds at Sundays and Feasts:
BENEDICITE, omnia opera Domini, Domino; laudate et superexaltate eum in saecula.
BENEDICITE, caeli, Domino, benedicite, angeli Domini, Domino.
BENEDICITE, aquae omnes, quae super caelos sunt, Domino, benedicite omnes virtutes Domini, Domino.
BENEDICITE, sol et luna, Domino, benedicite, stellae caeli, Domino.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Benedicite” is christian song of praise. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Benedicite, Christian and song, not as a finished interpretation.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 17, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q2929880. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Benedicite” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.