# Secare Deum



## Giwu

In the 1993 movie "The Man Without a Face"  Mel Gibson says this to a character near the end of the movie.  There is no translation.  I see from doing a quick search that it could be seccare rather than secare.

Anyone know what this means?

Thank you very much.


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## Giwu

This question was moved from the Italian forum to here.

I found a quote online that may also help place this into context...

Tu ne unum poteris subsecuisse Deum.Carnifices tunicam minime proscindere Christisunt ausi: tentas tu ne secare Deum.


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## Frenko

Hi Giwu and welcome to WRF 

The thread was moved because your sentence is Latin. 

More or less...

 it's an invective against Arius who taught that the Son of God was not eternal (he kind of "cut up" the trinity). 
It ends with "try not to divide God" (tentas tu ne secare Deum) that's what you've asked for.


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## Giwu

Thank you...the site that I took that from said "Italia" so I assumed it was Italian.

So...."secare Deum" would mean what?  Deum is God, but is secare divide?  Does the phrase mean something different when they appear together?

Thanks much.


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## Flaminius

Your _secare_ is the infinitive form of "to cut up."  This takes _Deum_ as the direct object.  The phrase as a whole means: to cut up God.


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## Giwu

Thank you very much.  That doesn't really make sense in the way it is used in the movie.  It sure sounds like it should be the word secare  (phonetically....seh ca ray)  but now I am wondering if there are any words that would be close to that and mean something different.


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## Frenko

Giwu said:


> Thank you very much.  That doesn't really make sense in the way it is used in the movie.  It sure sounds like it should be the word secare  (phonetically....seh ca ray)  but now I am wondering if there are any words that would be close to that and mean something different.


Here is what the sentence Mel Gibson says in the film is like:
-You're a good Disciple, an excellent disciple. It's better for you to go... farewell. Secare Deum. Everything would be fine -

It seems you got the phrase right.


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## Giwu

The long quote I posted here in Latin was not used in the movie, I found that text elsewhere.   Just the phrase "secare Deum" was used. Thank you to everyone for their help!


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## Rgo91

Giwu said:


> The long quote I posted here in Latin was not used in the movie, I found that text elsewhere.   Just the phrase "secare Deum" was used. Thank you to everyone for their help!


Francis Spellman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Actually has the answer! Listen close. Was secuere Deum. "Follow God". beautiful.


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## Scholiast

salvete omnes!


Rgo91 said:


> Actually has the answer! Listen close. Was secuere Deum. "Follow God".


Not quite. It was _sequere Deum_. Had the production-team taken the trouble to consult the Latin team at WR, they would not have allowed the actors to pronounce Latin so badly.
Σ


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## Rgo91

Scholiast said:


> salvete omnes!
> 
> Not quite. It was _sequere Deum_. Had the production-team taken the trouble to consult WR, they would not have allowed the actors to pronounce Latin so badly.
> Σ


Right! I just spelled it wrong! The beauty is in the meaning. Mel (as far as he knows) has one chance to get a guaranteed word in and he encourages the boy to "follow God". Just ah. Melts my heart


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