How it came to the tradition
According to Francisca Nascimento, who brought the hymn to Mestre Irineu, she first learned the Bendito as a child of about nine, hearing it sung by older women from the state of Ceará after their rosary devotions during the month of Mary. Some tellings attribute the hymn's original composition to the Brazilian religious figure Padre Cícero, though this origin is not confirmed.
Years later, already a member of the Santo Daime community, Francisca sang the Bendito for Mestre Irineu near Holy Week. He found it fitting for the occasion and asked that it be sung every year during the Holy Friday work — at the opening of the rosary, during the intermission, and at the work's close.
Its place in the Holy Friday work
The Bendito is a narrative hymn recounting the events of the Passion across the days of Holy Week, sung with repeated verses in the style of the benditos of Brazil's Northeast. Within the Santo Daime calendar, it is sung specifically as part of the Sexta-Feira Santa (Holy Friday) work, marking that work as distinct from the doctrine's other festejos.