This “Benedictus de Difuntos” is one of the three Canticum Zachariae of which this is sung in the Exsequiarum ordo / the burial service mostly executed after the Requiem Mass. This Benedictus is also knows as a song of Zechariah or the Canticle of Zachary. The text is found in the Gospel of Luke (1:68-79) and this Benedictus is published in the Liber Usualis ( edition 1936 pages 1769-1770).
Manuel del Valle sets this motet for four voices (TpATB) and is set in the G-hypo Dorian modus.
The following parts have been found: Tiple (1 f.), Alto (1 f.), thenór (1 f.), bajo (1 f.).
This motet “Benedictus de Difuntos” is later found and published between 1762 and 1885 by Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial and is found in the Archivo Musical del El Escorial Madrid no 40866 in the Catalogo del Archivo del Monasterio de San Lorenzo El Real de El Escorial page 603 no. 2113 in the Catalogo del Archivo II del Monasterio de San Lorenzo El Real de El Escorial page 267 no. 2113.
Text of Benedictus de Difuntos, Canticum Zachariae
Benedictus Dominus Deus Israël; quia visitavit et fecit redemptionem plebis suae
et erexit cornu salutis nobis, in domo David pueri sui,
sicut locutus est per os sanctorum, qui a saeculo sunt, Prophetarum eius,
salutem ex inimicis nostris, et de manu omnium, qui oderunt nos;
ad faciendam misericordiam cum patribus nostris, et memorari testamenti sui sancti,
iusiurandum, quod iuravit ad Abraham patrem nostrum, daturum se nobis,
ut sine timore, de manu inimicorum nostrum liberati, serviamus illi
in sanctitate et iustitia coram ipso omnibus diebus nostris.
Et tu, puer, Propheta Altissimi vocaberis: praeibis enim ante faciem Domini parare vias eius,
ad dandam scientiam salutis plebi eius in remissionem peccatorum eorum,
per ingewanden misericordiae Dei nostri, in quibus visitabit nos oriens ex alto,
illuminare his, qui in tenebris et in umbra mortis sedent, ad dirigendos pedes nostros in viam pacis.
Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine. Et lux perpetua luceat ei.
Translation
Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has come and has redeemed his people.
He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David
as he said through his holy prophets of long ago,
salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us—
to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.
Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord And let perpetual light shine upon them.
