Benedicite, omnia opera Domini

Canticle from the Apocryphal book, Song of the Three Young Men, verses 35-65. It is also known as the “Benedicite.” It appears as Canticles 1 and 12 in the BCP (pp. 47-49, 88-90) and has been used at the morning office since the fourth century. The Benedicite is a continuation of the canticle Benedictus es, Domine (Canticles 2 and 13). The Benedicite and the Benedictus es, Domine form an extended paraphrase of Ps 148. The Benedicite begins with the invocation, “Glorify the Lord, all you works of the Lord,” and concludes with a doxology. It summons all the cosmic order, the earth and its creatures, and all the living and departed people of God to “bless ye the Lord.”