Sic transit gloria mundi
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Sic transit gloria mundi is a Latin phrase that means "Thus passes the glory of the world," but is more commonly interpreted as "Fame is fleeting."
Traditionally, Papal coronations are thrice interrupted by a monk (some say barefoot) holding a pole to which is affixed a burning piece of flax. After it finishes burning, the monk announces, "Pater sancte, sic transit gloria mundi." This is meant to remind the Pope that, despite the grandeur of the ceremony and the long history of the office, he is a mortal man.
Similarly, the slave holding the crown in a Roman triumph would whisper "Memento mori," meaning "Remember that you must die." As reiterated in the movie Patton, it was said in English as "All glory is fleeting." Frank Richards, author of "The Magnet" often construed the Latin as "Thus are the mighty fallen."
[edit] Modern usage
- The shortened "Sic transit gloria" is spoken multiple times by various characters in the movie Rushmore.
- It is the name of a song performed by Levi Garrett on his album "Blue & Acqua".
- The band Brandtson has a song named Sic Transit Gloria (Glory Fades).
- The band Brand New also has a song on their album Deja Entendu named Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades.
- The Norwegian industrial metal band Red Harvest entitled their fourth album (and the first that was distributed outside of Europe) "Sick Transit Gloria Mundi".
- Goldie Hawn's character in Foul Play is named Gloria Mundy. The romantic comedy has an attempted assassination of the Pope as its subplot.
- After destroying the world and causing a nuclear winter, the classic personal computer game "Command HQ" (released in 1990 by Microplay) for the DOS system will terminate unexpectedly and print "Sic transit gloria mundi" to the screen.
- The phrase is spoken by the character Bellerose in the play Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand to comment on the defeat of Valvert by Cyrano de Bergerac.
- Curiously, for a celebration of their recent marriage, it is held up on a sign in the crowd when Sheridan and Delenn return "home" at the beginning of the last episode of Season Four of Babylon 5.
- In the "Roman Empire" segment of History of the World, Part I, one Roman Senator utters the short form, to which another replies, "I didn't know Gloria was sick!" Later in the segment, a slave repeatedly reminds Caesar, "Remember, thou art mortal."
- An article in the New York Daily News, about the transport of an ill Gloria Vanderbilt, used the headline "Sick Gloria in Transit: Monday" [1]
