Quo vadis  

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Quō vādis? is a Latin phrase meaning "Where are you marching?". It is also commonly translated as "Where are you going?" or, poetically, "Whither goest thou?".

The phrase originates from the Christian tradition regarding Saint Peter's first words to the risen Christ during their encounter along the Appian Way. According to the apocryphal Acts of Peter (Vercelli Acts XXXV), as Peter flees from crucifixion in Rome at the hands of the government, and along the road outside the city, he meets the risen Jesus. In the Latin translation, Peter asks Jesus, "Quō vādis?" He replies, "Rōmam eō iterum crucifīgī" ("I am going to Rome to be crucified again"). Peter then gains the courage to continue his ministry and returns to the city, where he is martyred by being crucified upside-down. The Church of Domine Quo Vadis in Rome is built where the meeting between Peter and Jesus allegedly took place. The words "quo vadis" as a question also occur at least seven times in the Latin Vulgate.

In culture

The Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz wrote the novel Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero (1895–96), which in turn has been made into motion pictures several times, including a 1951 version that was nominated for eight Academy Awards. For this and other novels, Sienkiewicz received the 1905 Nobel Prize for Literature.

In a season four episode of M*A*S*H entitled "Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler?" the reference pertains to Jesus Christ. A shellshocked officer arrives at the Hospital believing he is the Christ. He has numerous conversations with the characters, including Father Mulcahy. He ultimately leaves the MASH unit for an evacuation hospital, still unrecovered.

In Perelandra, the second book in the Space Trilogy of C. S. Lewis, the protagonist Ransom arrives at the planet of Perelandra, or Venus. He finds that it has its own Garden of Eden with a green-skinned Adam and Eve couple. The demonically-possessed Professor Weston has arrived to tempt the Venusian Eve into sin and re-enact The Fall of Man. A Divine Voice speaks to Ransom and tells him that he must fight the Tempter and kill him with his bare hands. At Ransom being reluctant to take up this mission, God tells him that if The Fall of Man is indeed re-enacted, God Himself would have to eventually redeem Perelandra "by a second crucifixion, or a sacrifice even more appalling". As with St. Peter, Ransom is encouraged into undertaking his hard task with no further qualms.

Quo vadis? is a Latin phrase meaning "Where are you going?".

Quo vadis may also refer to:

Film and television

• Quo Vadis?, a 1901 French film directed by Lucien Nonguet and Ferdinand Zecca
• Quo Vadis (1913 film), an Italian film directed by Enrico Guazzoni
• Quo Vadis (1924 film) an Italian film directed by Gabriellino d'Annunzio and Georg Jacoby
• Quo Vadis (1951 film) an American film directed by Mervyn LeRoy
• Quo Vadis (2001 film) a Polish film directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz
• Quo Vadis? (miniseries), a 1985 miniseries directed by Franco Rossi
• Quo Vadis, Aida?, a 2020 film directed by Jasmila Žbanić
• "Quo Vadis?", a 2001 episode of the American television series ER

Music

• Quo Vadis (band), a Canadian metal band
• Quo Vadis (Dyson), a cycle of poems 1936-45
• Quo Vadis (Nowowiejski), a 1909 German-language oratorio by Feliks Nowowiejski
• Quo Vadis, a 1947 composition by Sir George Dyson
• "Quo Vadis", a 1994 song by the Australian band Hoodoo Gurus, on the Crank album
• "Quo Vadis", a 1995 song by the Austrian band Imperio
• "Quo Vadis", a 2015 song by the American Band Lower Dens, on the Escape from Evil album

Other uses

• Quo Vadis (automobile), a French automobile produced from 1921 to 1923
• Quo Vadis (horse), an American Quarter Horse mare inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame
• Quo Vadis (novel), an 1895 novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz
• Quo Vadis (restaurant), a restaurant and private club in Soho, London
• Quo Vadis (New York restaurant), a restaurant in New York City that operated from 1946 to 1984
• Quo Vadis (video game), a 1984 video game for the Commodore 64
• Quo Vadis Entertainment Center, a former cinema in Westland, Michigan

See also

• Church of Domine Quo Vadis, a common name for the Church of St Mary in Palmis, Italy
• Domine quo vadis?, a 1602 painting by Annibale Carracci
• "Quo Vadis, Capt. Chandler?", a 1975 episode of the American television series M*A*S*H
• Quo Vadimus, a 2000 episode of the American television series, Sports Night