From a film, but looking for a factual answer. What is the translation of the phrase?
It’s Latin, from the Requium mass:
“Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem”= Merciful Lord Jesus, grant them rest.
Would’ve been funnier if it was ‘Give it a rest!’
I thought it was “That really hurt. I think I’ll do it again.” 
Bring forth the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch!
Shouldn’t it have been:
Pies jesu Domine. :smack: Dona eis Requiem.
I forgot to thank you.
Anyway… Is this something Catholics ‘just know’?
Diet Coke and sinuses do not mix.
See, I thought it meant “Jesus brought pie, everybody take a break.” 
It’s probably best known from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It’s chanted by monks who then whack themselves in the head with short boards.
Largely. Even though the Mass isn’t in Latin any more, there’s still enough of it lying around that you pick up bits and pieces via osmosis. Including most of the words from that quote, and the ones you don’t pick up on, you can generally figure out from context.
Of course, some of us then went on to actually take Latin classes, which are much more likely to be offered at Catholic schools, so we’ve got an even better excuse.
A ‘requiem’, in particular a Catholic requiem is a specific mass. From the Wikipedia entry for Requiem:
“This use of the word requiem comes from the opening words of the Introit: Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. (Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and may everlasting light shine upon them.) The requiem mass differs from the ordinary mass in omitting certain joyful passages such as the Gloria, Credo, and Alleluia, and by the addition the sequence Dies Iræ.”
The ‘Pie jesu’ is an additional text.
Thanks to Mozart, I can now recite almost all of a requiem by heart (even though I’m not Catholic). I find his rendition to be my absolute favorite, followed closely by the modern composition of John Rutter.
I knew that. (I’ve watched THG three times over the last few days – once for the film, and the other two times for the commentaries.) What I was getting at was how people knoew what it meant (and which Chronos answered).
:: applauds ::
It’s also true that the phrase is familiar to people who know classical music. Every composer worth his salt wrote a Requiem, it seems. The Mozart one has been mentioned, but Fauré and Brahms also wrote well-known versions. There must be a million others.
<FILO AUFERA EST>
Rutter’s Requiem is awesome, but his Gloria is even better!
</FILO AUFERA EST>
Not to mention Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Pie Jesu” from Requiem. Two women sing that during Mass at my church and although it sounds pious enough I have to laugh at the fact that a show tune is being sung there.
I’d say the “Agnus Dei” and “Ave Maria” would be the Latin prayers I would know by heart as a Catholic person and product of Catholic schools.