Need help with a Latin phrase

[AngelicDoctor]

I am making certificates for First Holy Communion. I am using an image of an icon of the Blessed Virgin adoring our Lord in the Eucharist. The phrase underneath reads:

VIRGO MATER CHRISTI VULTUS
EUCHARISTICI ADORETRIX

I know that it means "virgin mother, Christ ???
adorer of the Eucharist?

What does “Christi vultus” mean? I do not have a Latin dictionary here. Thanks

 

[TNT]

I am making certificates for First Holy Communion. I am using an image of an icon of the Blessed Virgin adoring our Lord in the Eucharist. The phrase underneath reads:

VIRGO MATER CHRISTI VULTUS
EUCHARISTICI ADORETRIX

I know that it means "virgin mother, Christ ???
adorer of the Eucharist?

What does “Christi vultus” mean? I do not have a Latin dictionary here. Thanks

“Christi vultus” = Countenance or Face of Christ.
something greater than just a reflection.

 

[TNT]

My best guess is:
Virgin Mother adoring (or in adoration of) the Eucharistic Vision (or countenance) of Christ.

I see only one verb - ADORETRIX

 

[AngelicDoctor]

Thanks TNT,

If anyone else can either confirm the above translation, or offer another interpretation, please do.

 

[servus]

I am making certificates for First Holy Communion. I am using an image of an icon of the Blessed Virgin adoring our Lord in the Eucharist. The phrase underneath reads:

VIRGO MATER CHRISTI VULTUS
EUCHARISTICI ADORETRIX

I know that it means "virgin mother, Christ ???
adorer of the Eucharist?

What does “Christi vultus” mean? I do not have a Latin dictionary here. Thanks

“Virgo mater Christi Vultus Eucharistici Adoretrix”

I would translate this as: “Virgin Mother, Adoratrix of the face of Christ in the Eucharist” Because…both “Christi” and “Eucharistici” seem genitive, and it makes sense to apply the feminine “adoratrix” to both.

 

[servus]

I am making certificates for First Holy Communion. I am using an image of an icon of the Blessed Virgin adoring our Lord in the Eucharist. The phrase underneath reads:

VIRGO MATER CHRISTI VULTUS
EUCHARISTICI ADORETRIX

I know that it means "virgin mother, Christ ???
adorer of the Eucharist?

What does “Christi vultus” mean? I do not have a Latin dictionary here. Thanks

I would translate this “Virgin Mother, adoratrix of the face of Christ in the Eucharist” because “Christi”, and “Eucharisti” seem genitive, (of (the) Christ, of the Eucharist).

 

[Dale_M]

I asked in another forum and the answer I got was:
Virgin Mother of Christ, adoring face of the Eucharist

 

[parvenu74]

I asked in another forum and the answer I got was:
Virgin Mother of Christ, adoring face of the Eucharist

VIRGO MATER CHRISTI
VULTUS EUCHARISTICI ADORETRIX

Adoretrix is very much a noun, like “mediatrix” (third declention, nominative singular, feminine, to be precise). Chrck with another Latin scholar first, but I would render the literal translation this way:

Virgin Mother of Christ, adorer of the Eucharistic Face (or "the Face of the Eucharist).

There is no verb in this phrase, which makes sense if it’s on a picture because the implied preface is “This is the …” or “Behold …”

But let me re-stress that you check with a Latin scholar. There may be something idiomatic in the phrasing that is completely lost in a literal translation. I’m somewhat certain that “face of the Eucharist” should be rendered another way in English, a way that only exists in Latin by saying it the way it’s written.

 

[tee_eff_em]

I am making certificates for First Holy Communion. I am using an image of an icon of the Blessed Virgin adoring our Lord in the Eucharist. The phrase underneath reads:

VIRGO MATER CHRISTI VULTUS
EUCHARISTICI ADORETRIX

I know that it means "virgin mother, Christ ???
adorer of the Eucharist?

What does “Christi vultus” mean? I do not have a Latin dictionary here. Thanks

I concur: “This sentence no verb”

Also, I cannot confirm, but I believe *ADORETRIX *should be *ADORATRIX *(the masculine equivalent is definitely ADORATOR)
(Google concurs; A search for *adoretrix *finds 7 hits, which seem to be your query posted in several venues; *adoratrix *yields 443 hits)

With three genitives in a row (CHRISTI VULTUS EUCHARISTICI) it is not easy, but I would call it two phrases:
Virgin Mother of Christ
Adorer of the Eucharistic countenance
The other most sensible I can come up with, but the word order seems all wrong (as dodgy as Latin word order is): “Virgin Mother, Adorer of the Eucharistic countenance of Christ”.

tee

 

[parvenu74]

I forwarded this phrase to a priest who is fluent in about 20 languages, Latin included. I said that I thought it might be “Virgin Mother of Christ, Adorer of the Face of the Eucharist” but wasn’t sure since that didn’t sound quite right for some reason. Here is the reply I just received:

Extremely bizarre and confusing expression, but the translation is correct. Although it may also be “The Virgin Mother, adorer of the face of the Eucharistic Christ” which is even more bizarre. Whoever made up that sentence was probably an amateur in both Latin and Theology.

 

[AngelicDoctor]

I forwarded this phrase to a priest who is fluent in about 20 languages, Latin included. I said that I thought it might be “Virgin Mother of Christ, Adorer of the Face of the Eucharist” but wasn’t sure since that didn’t sound quite right for some reason. Here is the reply I just received:

Thanks everyone. Isn’t Latin fun? I really wish I studied more than a semester of it.
Why would your priest friend say that expression is bizarre and theologically nonsensical? If Mary adored Jesus, and Jesus’ very nature is eucharistic (sacrificial, gift of self, offered in thanksgiving to the Father)… could the expression make some theological sense. Perhaps I am stretching it too much.

 

[rescath]

I am making certificates for First Holy Communion. I am using an image of an icon of the Blessed Virgin adoring our Lord in the Eucharist. The phrase underneath reads:

VIRGO MATER CHRISTI VULTUS
EUCHARISTICI ADORETRIX

I know that it means "virgin mother, Christ ???
adorer of the Eucharist?

What does “Christi vultus” mean? I do not have a Latin dictionary here. Thanks

Christi, in typical poetic fashion goes both with Virgo Mater and Vultus Eucharistici. So it’s hard to translate without being awkward. English works by word order. Latin does not; it’s an inflected language.

“Virgin Mother of Christ, Christ’s visage in the Eucharist adoring” (poetically rendered) or “Virgin Mother of Christ, adorer of Christ’s Eucharistic Visage” (a bit more literal).

Similarly, Eucharistici could go with both / either Christi or Vultus.

That’s a richness of poetic expression that simply cannot be achieved in English.

 

[parvenu74]

Thanks everyone. Isn’t Latin fun? I really wish I studied more than a semester of it.
Why would your priest friend say that expression is bizarre and theologically nonsensical? If Mary adored Jesus, and Jesus’ very nature is eucharistic (sacrificial, gift of self, offered in thanksgiving to the Father)… could the expression make some theological sense. Perhaps I am stretching it too much.

This is the same priest who used to refer to me as the “ineffable monster,” a delightfully precise distillation of precise meaning that sounds much worse than it is (because I’m 6’4" and was a notorious goof when in high school). It’s par for the course from someone who learned English as his 18th or 19th language and forms his vocabulary by leaning very heavily on the knowledge that when the English language was being created, all writers of English were also fluent in Latin. Add to this linguistic soup a highly developed intellect packed with advanced degrees and a sometimes odd, sometimes acerbic sense of humor, and you get quotes like “ineffable monster” or “that’s the work of an amateur in both Latin and Theology.” Since I didn’t follow up on the angle of theology, I don’t know what exactly he meant by that.

 

[Geremia]

VIRGO MATER CHRISTI VULTUS
EUCHARISTICI ADORETRIX

I love translating Latin. Here it goes: “Virgin Mother of Christ, Face of the Eucharist, Adorer”