Transitus

Transitus is a Latin noun meaning passage, crossing, or transit. It derives from transire, to go across, and in Latin is used to denote movement across a boundary or a change of state. In English scholarly and religious contexts, transitus is often rendered as a formal or technical term rather than everyday vocabulary.

In religious and hagiographic usage, transitus frequently refers to the death or passing of a holy person. Within Catholic and Orthodox traditions, the term is used for narratives and commemorations of a saint’s passing, sometimes appearing as a designated liturgical or devotional rite known as a Transitus. These accounts and observances may be presented in narrative form or as ritual prayers and readings.

Beyond theology, transitus also appears as a general term for transition or passage in historical or philosophical Latin writings. It serves as a neutral descriptor for moving from one state, phase, or condition to another, including life and death or other transformations.

In modern science, the standard term for an astronomical event in which a body passes in front of another from an observer’s viewpoint is transit. The form transitus is then encountered mainly in historical, philological, or Latin-language sources. In such contexts, transitus is treated as a linguistic variant or scholarly term rather than a contemporary scientific designation.