benediction

noun

1. an utterance of good wishes.
2. the form of blessing pronounced by an officiating minister, as at the close of divine service.
3. a ceremony by which things are set aside for sacred uses, as a church, vestments, or bells.
4. (usually initial capital letter) Also called Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. a service consisting of prayers, at least one prescribed hymn, censing of the congregation and the Host, and a blessing of the congregation by moving in the form of a cross the ciborium or monstrance containing the Host.
5. the advantage conferred by blessing; a mercy or benefit.

noun

1. an invocation of divine blessing, esp at the end of a Christian religious ceremony
2. a Roman Catholic service in which the congregation is blessed with the sacrament
3. the state of being blessed

n.

c.1400, from Latin benedictionem (nominative benedictio), noun of action from bene dicere “to speak well of, bless,” from bene “well” (see bene-) + dicere “to speak” (see diction). The oldest sense in English is of grace before meat. The older French form, beneiçon passed into Middle English as benison.