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Benedicite

Christian song of praise

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 17, 2025
Entity authorityQ2929880
Source-derived summary

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.

Editorial summary

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.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current 174-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Benedicite, Christian and song is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “christian song of praise” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

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.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Benedicite”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Benedicite primary sources, Benedicite archive and Benedicite research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Benedicite”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

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.