# In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti



## charlie2

Hello, everyone,
I came across the above in a book in English. I don't know what language it is. It is supposed to be a charm against evil spirits. The speaker is a Filipino man, if this piece of information helps.
Thank you.
Edit : What does it mean?


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## Eddie

Hi, Charlie!

It's Latin, and it's used by Roman Catholic priests and nuns usually. It means, In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.


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## lauranazario

It is not a 'charm' ... but rather a blessing used in Christian churches.
"In nomine Patris et fillii et Spiritus Sancti" is Latin for "*In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost/Spirit*"... to which one would reply "Amen."

Saludos,
LN


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## charlie2

Thank you both.
It may be good to walk with people with wisdom 智慧人 . In the meantime, I am happy to walk with people with knowledge.


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## JJchang

智慧人?! wisdom people? noun plus noun......

I believe by just saying that cannot exorcise or against evil spirit.


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## KevinBeezy

The quote is actually in the language Esperanto
"In Nomeni (name) Patri (father) Et (and) Fili (son) Spiritus (spirit) Sancti (sanctity or peace/holyness)"
So it is "In the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit"
This quote is also brought up in a movie called "The Boondock Saints"
It is said with this prayer:
"And shepards we shall be for thee my lord for thee, Power hath descended forth from thy hand our feet may swiftly carry out thy commands. So we shall flow a river forth to thee and teeming with souls shall it ever be. In Nomeni Patri Et Fili Spiritus Sancti."
The prayers basically means that you will gain the power from the Lord to do as he wants and make a river flow of the bad souls that he makes you take.
In the movie the 2 brothers say this prayers before they kill a bad person.
It's a good quote and i'm p lanning on getting this tattood on me some time soon.


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## XaLeX

KevinBeezy said:


> The quote is actually in the language Esperanto
> "In Nomeni (name) Patri (father) Et (and) Fili (son) Spiritus (spirit) Sancti (sanctity or peace/holyness)"


Even though the two languages may look very similar in that sentence, it's by no doubt Latin (link).
_In_ is a Latin preposition which needs the ablative, and _nomine_ is the ablative form of _nomen_, "name". _Patris, filii, spiritus _and_ sancti_ are the genitives of _pater, filius, spiritus _and_ sanctus_. Finally _et_ is a Latin conjunction.


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## Kevin Beach

It is Latin.

It is the short blessing which has preceded and ended all Catholic prayers since the very early Christian period.

The standard translation in English is "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit/Ghost".


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## Fred_C

KevinBeezy said:


> The quote is actually in the language Esperanto


 
Minime vero ! Immo lingua latina est.
Versio esperantica hujus sententiae est illud :
"En la nomo de la patro, de la filo, kaj de la sankta spirito".

Not at all ! It *is* latin.
If it were esperanto, it would be like :
"En la nomo de la patro, de la filo, kaj de la sankta spirito".


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## Starfrown

XaLeX said:


> ..._filii, spiritus _and_ sancti_ are the genitives of _pater, filius, spiritus _and_ sanctus..._


I often hear the contracted form of _filii_, _fili_, used in this phrase.

It doesn't really matter which is used, of course.  I only posted this for the sake of those who don't know Latin to let them know that either form is correct.


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## MEEPSTER

It's the sign of the cross in Latin.
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
Had to do it every day as an Altar Boy


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## silver frog

KevinBeezy said:


> The quote is actually in the language Esperanto



This formula has been used in Christian liturgy for centuries before Esperanto was even created (Esperanto being an artificial language created in... 1887!) 

It's Latin.


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## Dick Shonary

you have to consider the difference between words, in the Latin "genitive form".

for instance "Pater" means "father", 
"Patris" means "of the father" (genitive form); 

the same is for "Filius" (son) 
and "Filii" (of the son). (there is only one L in "FILII") 

"Sanctus" means "holy/saint", "Spiritus" means "spirit/ghost", 

the Genitive form turns it into "Sancti" (of the saint), 
and consequentially: "Spiritus Sancti" (of the saint spirit/holy ghost)

Thus you have:
"in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti" 

and the final meaning is: 
"in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost"

don't worry, though... I heard the Pope himself saying it wrong!  ...well he IS german, so...


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## linguos

Dick Shonary said:


> don't worry, though... I heard the Pope himself saying it wrong!  ...well he IS *G*erman, so...


The Church has its very own way of pronouncing Latin expressions, so it might have or might have not been as you say. 

Anyway, no German will ever forgive you for "decapitalising" them!


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## Cagey

> and the final meaning is:
> "in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost"
> 
> don't worry, though... I heard the Pope himself saying it wrong!  ...well he IS *G*erman, so...


I don't know what you mean by "wrong".  Do you mean that the version without "*of the* son and *of the* holy ghost" is wrong?   

In English we allow this kind of parallel construction.  When words are repeated, they may be omitted; the reader or listener supplies them. "_In the name of the father and son and holy ghost_" is understood as "_in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost._"  Latin, too, allows for the omission of repeated words. The translation that omits the words is true to English syntax and consistent with the meaning of the Latin.


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## ablativ

Cagey said:


> Do you mean that the version without "*of the* son and *of the* holy ghost" is wrong?



"Patris" and "filii" are genitive. At the first glance I had some problems with the combination of "spiritus" and "sancti" as I did not realize that "spiritus" was a genitive, too. Spiritus belongs to the so called "u-declension" which means nominative and genitive are equal. They just differ in pronunciation (short vs. long "u").


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## Scholiast

To amplify ablativ's comment, _spiritǔs_ [Nom.] and _spiritūs_ [Gen.] appear "equal", but sound not so.


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## ablativ

I know, Scholiast, that's why I wrote: 





> They just differ in pronunciation (short vs. long "u").



Edit: I was some seconds too late.


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## Scholiast

Entschuldigung - ich las zu schnell und rücksichtslos.


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## ablativ

Scholiast said:


> Entschuldigung - ich las zu schnell und rücksichtslos.



Don't worry - no problem!


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## R41du

Could anyone copy the right spelling here? I'd like to tattoo it on me, but I want it to be as accurate as possible. Thank you...


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## XiaoRoel

En el título del hilo está bien, aunque yo suprimiría las mayúsculas y las substituiría por minúscula (o viceversa pondría todo en mayúsculas, o lo uno o lo otro).


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## Harpocratic

charlie2 said:


> Hello, everyone,
> I came across the above in a book in English. I don't know what language it is. It is supposed to be a charm against evil spirits. The speaker is a Filipino man, if this piece of information helps.
> Thank you.
> Edit : What does it mean?



10 years too late but interesting none the less. I imagine you were reading Steinbeck! He is being facetious when he says he doesn't know what it means!


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