- Composer: Gregorian Chant
- Period: Medieval (1-1449)
Review
Though disputed by Eastern Orthodoxy, the doctrine of the Trinity has long been a central theological tenet of Roman Catholicism (and most of the protestant churches that broke away from it). The doctrine holds that Christians worship one singular God, but that unity of the Godhead exists in three distinct persons. The Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit maintain three separate personalities, yet miraculously exist in one indivisible unity. Some of the earliest Christian hymnody in the West celebrates the trinity, and as the Catholic liturgy was coalescing, it became standard to conclude hymns and other verse forms with a "little" doxology that offered glory and praise to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, "as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, amen"; a similar trinitarian closing concluded the many Psalms chanted during each hour of the daily Office. Yet the church also evolved an important feast day in celebration of the Trinity alone. First comes the feast of Easter, when the Son rose, and 40 days after that, the feast of Pentecost commemorates the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples. On the first Sunday following Pentecost, when the doctrine of the Holy Spirit was first espoused, the church celebrates the now-unified Trinity. A Franciscan named John Peckham, who later became an Archbishop of Canterbury, composed an office for the feast in the late thirteenth century.Benedicta sit sancta Trinitas may have been part of Peckham's compositions, or may have been earlier: it serves as Introit to the Mass of Trinity Sunday. As such, it opens the most holy ritual of the complete celebration. The musical mode for this piece of chant is the eighth, frequently the most celebratory mode, and the very first notes of the chant establish this exuberant mode. Several musical phrases open with similar upward-directed melodies, and the chant characteristically spends much time "reciting" on the higher pitch to which they crest. The chant text offers blessings to the holy Trinity that is at the same time an "indivisible unity." The intervening Psalm verse speaks of the majesty of the Lord's name over all the earth. Both music and text offer jubilant praises to the triune God on the festival of His triune nature, and both lift worshippers into the spirit of the feast. ~ Timothy Dickey, All Music Guide
Albums with Complete Performances of the Work
| Title | Date |
| A Venetian Coronation 1595 | 1990 |
| Cantus | 1996 |
| Gregorian Chant | 1998 |
| Taverner & Tudor Music II: Gloria Tibi Trinitas | 2008 |
