Sic transit gloria mundi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sic transit gloria mundi is a Latin phrase that means "Thus passes the glory of the world". It has been interpreted as "Worldly things are 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.

[edit] Modern usage

  • Arthur Conan Doyle's short story My Friend the Murderer ends with this phrase.
  • 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.
  • The Tenth Doctor uses the phrase at least once.
  • The shortened "Sic transit gloria" (translated as "Glory fades") is spoken multiple times by various characters in Wes Anderson's movie Rushmore, culminating in Max Fischer's memorable use of the phrase in his audacious super-play on the Vietnam War. Students of Anderson's films often see this as an element present in all of his films, whose characters' peaks of glory were behind them.
  • Taken from the line from Rushmore, the band Brand New also has a song on their album Deja Entendu named "Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades"
  • In the movie Carry on Cleo uttered by Kenneth Williams to British slave Gloria becoming sea sick
  • In the movie Patton, it is interpreted as "All glory is fleeting"
  • It is the name of a song performed by Levi Garrett on his album Blue & Acqua
  • 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 includes an attempted assassination of the Pope.
  • 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.
  • When human player is defeated in classic computer game Centurion: Defender of Rome, he will see dialog window: "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi The Roman Empire Has Fallen".
  • An episode of Babylon 5 is called "Sic Transit Vir", Vir Cotto being a character from the show.
  • 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!"
  • 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]
  • In 1980 the New York Daily News reported a state bailout of the city's subway system. It used the headline "Sick Transit's Glorious Monday".
  • Also quoted in the 1964 Vincent Price film The Masque of the Red Death from an original story by Edgar Allan Poe.
  • In A Canticle for Leibowitz, as a spaceship constructed by the Catholic Church to flee an oncoming nuclear apocalypse prepares to depart, the last crewman on board says "Sic transit mundus"
  • In the unlikely derivations section of BBC radio's My Word, the phrase is claimed to be a desperate telegram from a stranded and cash-strapped friend asking the recipient to "SEEK TRAINSEAT GLORIA MONDAY"
  • Frank Richards, author of The Magnet comic often construed the Latin as "Thus are the mighty fallen"
  • Spider Robinson, author of the "Stardance Trilogy" named the ship on which Charlie is departing earth "Gloria Mundi".
  • The phrase was scribbled on a note by Charles Ponzi and handed to reporters at his sentencing for fraud
  • It is the last line in the short story, The Maiden, written by Jean Stafford
  • The popular 1990s MUD Holy Mission had this phrase on its login page

[edit] See also