...Memento Mori...

Memento Mori is a Latin phrase which may be freely translated as "Remember that you are mortal," "Remember you will die," or "Remember your death". It names a genre of artistic creations that vary widely from one another, but which all share the same purpose, which is to remind people of their own mortality.








Two stanzas typical of memento mori in mediaeval music are from the virelai ad mortem festinamus of the Catalan Llibre Vermell de Montserrat from 1399:

Vita brevis breviter in brevi finietur,
Mors venit velociter que neminem veretur,
Omnia mors perimit et nulli miseretur.
Ad mortem festinamus peccare desistamus.

Life is short and shortly it will end
Death comes quicker than you think
It takes everything away, but takes pity on no one
We hasten towards death, we shall refrain from sinning

Ni conversus fueris et sicut puer factus
Et vitam mutaveris in meliores actus,
Intrare non poteris regnum Dei beatus.
Ad mortem festinamus peccare desistamus.

If you don’t repent and become pure as a child
And if you don’t change your life by doing better,
You cannot enter the Kingdom of God.
We hasten towards death, we shall refrain from sinning