This article is about the latin phrase. For more meanings of Quo Vadis, see Quo Vadis (disambiguation).

Quo vadis is a Latin phrase meaning Where do you go?. It is used as proverbial phrase from the Bible (John 16:5). The most famous use of this phrase is when (according to Christian legend) Saint Peter was fleeing Rome on the Appian way, and encountered Jesus. He asked Jesus, "Domine, quo vadis?", "Lord, where are you going?", and Jesus replied "To Rome to be crucified anew." Upon hearing this, Peter returned to Rome to be crucified upside down. This is the basis of the Annibale Carracci painting. The story is contained in many sources, such as the apocryphal Acts of Peter (35):

And as they considered these things, Xanthippe took knowledge of the counsel of her husband with Agrippa, and sent and showed Peter, that he might depart from Rome. And the rest of the brethren, together with Marcellus, besought him to depart. But Peter said unto them: Shall we be runaways, brethren? and they said to him: Nay, but that thou mayest yet be able to serve the Lord. And he obeyed the brethren's voice and went forth alone, saying: Let none of you come forth with me, but I will go forth alone, having changed the fashion of mine apparel. And as he went forth of the city, he saw the Lord entering into Rome. And when he saw him, he said: Lord, whither goest thou thus (or here)? And the Lord said unto him: I go into Rome to be crucified. And Peter said unto him: Lord, art thou (being) crucified again? He said unto him: Yea, Peter, I am (being) crucified again. And Peter came to himself: and having beheld the Lord ascending up into heaven, he returned to Rome, rejoicing, and glorifying the Lord, for that he said: I am being crucified: the which was about to befall Peter.

-- M.R. James, The Apocryphal New Testament, Clarendon Press, 1924.