By Michael Pakaluk, The Catholic Thing - Anyone who prays the Divine Office will say the Benedictus each morning, as it is the closing hymn of Lauds (Morning Prayer). It’s also called “The Canticle of Zechariah,” the father of John the Baptist, who sang the Benedictus (“Blessed be God”) when his infant son was circumcised, on the eighth day... More precisely, he sang it after the ceremony of naming. If the ancient Jewish practice was like current practice: first, the baby was circumcised, which act was understood to place him within the covenant of Abraham. Then, his father would declare the baby’s name, which the parents would have kept secret until then.