Language of the Catholic Church and Western Civilization
This is my very favorite piece of music by St. Hildegard von Bingen. It is very mysterious, which is not surprising as she was a great mystic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77M2pkkdH10 O Virtus Sapientiae (antiphon) by Hildegard von Bingen I have learned to sing it, and you can learn to sing it, too! Read through the Latin text... Continue Reading →
You want to learn Latin. DO IT! Let's get you started today. In order to design a course you will learn from and keep going with, you should match your strategy with the ways you learn best. This whole website is devoted to helping you design a program of study for yourself, but in this... Continue Reading →
It was Classical Latin I learned in High School. It was also Classical Latin that I took in college. Yet in the last few years I have really come to appreciate the fascinating, challenging, and special thing that Church Latin is. I wish there were more concentration on this in schools and colleges! Church Latin... Continue Reading →
I'm redoing something from the past that doesn't exist today! I'm taking the incomplete tape scripts from Fr. Most's Latin by the Natural Method, translating and completing each exercise, and recording them, making them an audio resource as they were meant to be. After reading each lesson of the textbook, students can then listen to... Continue Reading →
Sentence diagramming: it's grammar, visualized. Have you ever heard of this extremely useful tool? Using various kinds of lines throughout, you can see the internal grammatical structure of a sentence and its parts. Today you will see how it can help you understand principles of Latin grammar. Let's start with the simplest of examples. The... Continue Reading →
They say that you can worship very well at the Latin Mass without knowing a word of Latin, if you reverently pray in your heart as the priest is praying through the words of the Mass. This is true, and it's another reason that the Latin Mass is the best way of worshiping God. But...the... Continue Reading →
This is my favorite Latin study-aid of them all, so we will begin this series with it today. And actually, I already have an example of a "mind map" or "idea map" on this blog, explaining jobs the endings of Latin verbs do. (It's here if you want to see it.) An idea map is... Continue Reading →
Don't groan--this is a highly-powered mega-vitamin for your Latin skills! There is no better way I know to feel like Latin is a spoken language than having a repertoire of pieces in your mind that you can hear with your "mind's ear." You've learned some Latin words with your textbook--very good. But you probably didn't... Continue Reading →
The inescapable truth: Catholic sensibilities are formed on Latin. Period. Full stop. Two reasons for this are that 1) the clearest understanding of the intellect and 2) the subtlest and most elevated emotions and feelings flow from experiencing the use of Ecclesiastical Latin. Therefore, teaching Latin to your children is a priceless gift for their... Continue Reading →
When it comes to learning Church Latin, we all should imitate what we did as babies. Be a baby listening to our Holy Mother, the Church, at prayer, and learn Latin as you go. I’ve written some lessons I hope can help you learn Latin while praying along with the Church’s ongoing prayer. I have... Continue Reading →
