Benedicite

‘Benedicite omnia Opera’ are the opening words in the Vulgate of part of ‘The Song of the Three Holy Children’, found in the Apocrypha, using verses 35 to 66. The rubric in the text says that the song ‘followeth in the third chapter of DANIEL, after this place’, quoting verse 23, and indicating that the song comes between verses 23 and 24. It is an exercise in the Sublime, in which the works of the Lord, in heaven and on earth, are called upon to bless the Creator, including the sun, the moon and the stars, winter and summer, nights and days, light and darkness, and all living things; all are brought into a chorus of thanks and praise. The Benedicite has been used in the Roman Catholic...