Saeculorum

Saeculorum is the genitive plural form of the Latin noun saeculum, which denotes an age, era, generation, or the world in a broad sense. The term originates in Latin and is typically encountered in ecclesiastical contexts. Saeculum is a neuter noun of the second declension; its plural genitive ending is saeculorum, yielding the phrase saecula saeculorum when used in the plural.

The most familiar usage is liturgical. In ecclesiastical Latin the phrase in saecula saeculorum, literally “in the ages of the ages,” functions as a doxological formula indicating enduring or eternal duration. It is commonly rendered in English as “for ever and ever” or, in a more expansive sense, “world without end.” The phrase appears at the end of certain prayers and hymns, most notably in the Gloria Patri (the Doxology) and related liturgical invocations: Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Beyond liturgy, saeculum can appear in historical or theological writing to denote a long span of time or a particular era, sometimes with a contrast between secular time and sacred time. In general, saeculorum carries the sense of enduring continuity across ages.

See also: Doxology; in saecula saeculorum; Latin liturgical phrases.