Benedicamus Domino (Latin: "Let us bless the Lord") is a closing salutation that was formerly used in the LatinMass instead of theIte, missa est in Masses which lack theGloria (i.e., Masses of the season duringAdvent,Septuagesima,Lent, andPassiontide; ferial Massesper annum at which the Mass of the preceding Sunday was repeated, except in Eastertide; mostvotive Masses). Theresponse, said afterwards, isDeo gratias ("Thanks be to God"). It is also sung as aversicle at the end of allOffices. TheBenedicamus Domino continues to be used in the Mass of theLutheran Churches and in the Divine Office.[1]
Apparently the chant was unknown inRome before about AD 1000, and may have originated in theGallican liturgy. In modern chantbooks, the music given for the chant is exactly the same as for theIte missa est, but it is not known how much that was true in the medieval period as well.[2]
The text was frequently troped, especially by adding text between the two words, or using the melody as thecantus firmus for anorganum. The use of this chant as a tenor was common in theSt. Martial andNotre Dame schools of polyphony, including a dozen settings in theMagnus Liber Organi.
During the liturgical reforms of PopePius XII (1939–1958) andPope John XXIII (1958–1963) the use of theBenedicamus Domino was much restricted. By 1963, it was only recited or chanted when anexposition immediately follows the Mass (Eucharisticum Mysterium, 120). It is rarely heard in Anglo-Saxon countries, processions being rarities there. It is still however, used in theDivine Office.
TheLutheran Churches continue to use it in the Divine Office and at the end of the Mass (Divine Service).[1]
