Is this ecclesiastical latin?

September 13, 2007 8:44 AM

One of the grad students in the chemistry department at my university has hand-embroidered his lab coat with a sacred heart and the letters VC VD VF. Can anyone clue me in?

I'm guessing it's an abbreviation for something in Latin, but I'm not Catholic, and Google's not too helpful–I get junk (section headings and roman numerals). V could be for Vir, man, as in nobilis vir. Or is it a chemistry thing? I think he's French, if that helps.

posted by pullayup to religion & philosophy (20 comments total)

You know, I might have the order wrong; it's been a few weeks since I saw this fellow.
posted by pullayup at 8:48 AM on September 13, 2007

This might be a good opportunity to ask him politely what it means, it could be the start of a friendship.
posted by BobbyDigital at 8:50 AM on September 13, 2007

My best guess is that it refers to the trinity in some way.
posted by phrontist at 8:52 AM on September 13, 2007

I totally will, but my curiosity's piqued and I only rarely spot this guy, and when I do, he's always plowing down the hall looking like he's got somewhere to go.
posted by pullayup at 8:54 AM on September 13, 2007

possibly

vb-verbum domini--the word of god

vc--verbum caro, short for verbum caro factum est, "the word is made flesh" and which forms the first line of one of the sacred heart devotions

best i can do
posted by subatomiczoo at 9:02 AM on September 13, 2007

Could it be VB VC VF? Which appears to have something to do with chemistry.
posted by drezdn at 9:16 AM on September 13, 2007

If it is Catholicism, I doubt it has its roots in American Catholicism, or at least not mainstream Roman Catholicism pre-Vatican II, none of my c. 1960 Catholic school Latin books make reference to it in the Sacred Heart section.

What ethnicity is this grad student, e.g., Eastern European or Latino?
posted by geoff. at 9:21 AM on September 13, 2007

I checked this big list of Latin abbreviations, and nothing really jumped out. Also dug around a little in the Sacred Heart devotions at the Treasury of Latin Prayers and came up a little empty.
posted by jquinby at 9:36 AM on September 13, 2007

From a review of a book about Sacred Heart Catholic nationalism in France:

Promoted by the Jesuit order, the Sacred Heart became worn as a talisman against danger, illness, and evil. The symbol also addressed anxieties about apostasy, error, and schism. This sense of protection by the Sacred Heart became communal with the episcopal consecration of the city of Marseilles, which ritual act was believed to halt the devastating plague of 1720. With the Revolution in 1789, Catholic anxiety extended to the new republican threat to Catholic belief and the Catholic vocation of France. Peasants in the Vendée stitched the Sacré-Coeur to their clothing when they took up arms against the revolutionaries. Gradually all over France, Catholic loyalists adopted the symbol as a bitter condemnation of the secular republican ideal and as a promise of national redemption through the re-Christianization of public life, especially through a national consecration.

I bet it's really just his frat, though.
posted by thirteenkiller at 9:43 AM on September 13, 2007

My Latin's hardly wonderful, but I am a Catholic, so here's some suggestions as to what the abbreviations might mean:

VD = Verbum Domini (the Word of God)
VC = Verbum Caro (the Word made flesh)
VF = Vicit Fili (the Son lives)

I hope this helps!
posted by LN at 10:01 AM on September 13, 2007

Could it be "VD VR VF"? "vive dieu, vive le roi, vive la france"? somehow it may be related to boy scouts who also feature the sacred heart as their symbol.
posted by lucia__is__dada at 10:10 AM on September 13, 2007

(he may be of the momarchich, catholic, right wing extraction, on a second look)
posted by lucia__is__dada at 10:27 AM on September 13, 2007 [1 favorite]

oh dear, monarchic
posted by lucia__is__dada at 10:28 AM on September 13, 2007

I was about to say it was some variation on the "vici vidi" thing, but little do I know about those things.
posted by chef_boyardee at 11:37 AM on September 13, 2007

Chem prof here: no resonance (pardon the pun) in organci chemistry.
posted by lalochezia at 1:09 PM on September 13, 2007

If you knwe what his research area was, this may be a clue. But thirding some frat/obscure band/art reference.
posted by lalochezia at 1:09 PM on September 13, 2007

He could just be trying to piss off people who want to know what it means.
posted by knapah at 2:19 PM on September 13, 2007

He's a syphilitic fan of Jane Fonda's politics who likes thick magazines.
posted by rob511 at 5:01 PM on September 13, 2007

The sacred heart was just to throw you off the scent.
posted by rob511 at 5:02 PM on September 13, 2007

Right now, I tend to think that I misremembered the letters, and that lucia__is__dada got it. I'll try to provide an update when I can verify this, you know, for posterity.
posted by pullayup at 6:49 PM on September 13, 2007