Benedictus

[ben-i-dik-tuhs]

noun

Ecclesiastical.

1. the short canticle or hymn beginning in Latin Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini, and in English “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”

2. the canticle or hymn beginning in Latin Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel, and in English “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel.”

3. a musical setting of a Benedictus.

Benedictus

/ ˌbɛnɪˈdɪktəs /

noun

1. a short canticle beginning Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini in Latin and Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord in English

2. a canticle beginning Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel in Latin and Blessed be the Lord God of Israel in English

Word History and Origins

Origin of Benedictus¹

< Latin: blessed (past participle of benedīcere to commend, bless). See bene-, dictum

Example Sentences

Tines restructured the Latin mass familiar from Bach and Haydn, beginning, as usual, with the Kyrie but ending with the Benedictus.

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Mozart never got around to finishing the Mass, which ends with a Benedictus but no “Dona nobis pacem,” no plea for the end of conflict.

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Sean Mackie replaces Kyle Benedictus because of an injury.

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With new meditative solo settings of the traditional Latin Mass written for the project by Caroline Shaw, Tines wove Bach, Bonds, Julius Eastman, the percussionist-composer Tyshawn Sorey and spirituals into a newly ordered Kyrie, Agnus Dei, Credo, Gloria, Sanctus and Benedictus.

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Machaut’s great achievement is to humanize the mass to such an extent that its specific sections of Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Benedictus, and Agnus Dei come to be heard as universalized glorification of goodness, as pleas for peace and goodwill for all.

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Related Words

• invocation