Earn certifications, licenses, and diplomas alongside a community of passionate peers and teachers.
Once you have the basics down, you can keep growing with additional licenses or specializations.
Want to teach when you’re done? We’ll help you connect to schools looking for people like you!
We love partnering with schools who need custom learning pathways for their students. Want to explore what that might look like for your school?
This is the foundation: all of our programs start here.
Whether you have taken some Latin before, or none at all, this ten-credit, five semester program will get you speaking, reading, and writing Latin in the ecclesiastical pronunciation. Because our program is founded on mastery-at-level, you can place out of as many of these courses as you are able. If it has been a while, however, we recommend that you start ab initio – from the beginning!
Three Semesters of Fundamentals, one of Composition, & one of Advanced Latin.
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Afterward, you can continue building on your skills with a teaching license, or a specialization in Classics, Canon Law, Philosophy, Theology, or Liturgy.
After basic fluency of Ecclesiastical Latin, you are able to enter into the core of VSI’s offerings. Each of our specializations can be pursued as standalone continuing education (CE) credentials in support of your personal or professional interests, or else subordinated to an advanced course of study resulting in a teaching license or Pontifical Diploma.
Alternatively, build your own track and study what you enjoy. Build on your previous success and earn the CE credentials that express your interests.
Get licensed to teach Ecclesiastical Latin from the only Ecclesiastical Latin licensing authority in the United States.
In only 18 months after completion of the Certificate of Basic Ecclesiastical Latin Proficiency (or by placing out of it), you can receive a unique-in-its-kind teaching credential. Our magistri are trained not only in the best active pedagogy for classical language, but also are taught how to integrate the very best of modern language learning into their curriculum and instruction. And all of this, in an integrated, Catholic manner.
This accelerated program starts in the first year with an in-person summer intensive workshop to help solidify or reinforce spoken Latin, and continues with a particular pathway of courses from the specialization tracks listed above during the following two semesters. Then, the second summer begins with student-teaching for the summer workshop, with observations by a mentor. Finally, it culminates in a mentor-coached capstone project to earn a full 29 credits in this license.
Throw the Latin dictionary away, and engage with primary sources with masterful fluency.
Complete our full course of study and earn the Pontifical DLE by taking a variety of courses across our various areas of specialization in order to obtain the necessary 32 credits.
Unlike any other Latin program in the world, the DLE is Co-sponsored by the Pontifical Institute for Higher Latin (PIAL), and follows the program of studies outlined by Pope John XXIIII in the document Veterum Sapientia.
It is the only Vatican-accredited course of studies in Ecclesiastical Latin in existence.
Chances are you probably didn’t initially learn to speak your native language in a classroom. Learning to speak conversationally with words that we encounter on a daily (or hourly) basis lays the foundation for grammar and mechanics upon which advanced fluency is built. We think of it as learning through the kind of informal conversation around the kitchen table that we have every day, and invite you to come sit at ours!
Our tutoring is specially designed to fit your unique needs and preferences. With VSI tutors, you have the freedom to learn at your own pace and on a schedule that works best for you all while laying the necessary foundation for advanced learning in a fun, personal setting.
Experience the joy and satisfaction of delving into these captivating languages and unlock your potential. Ignite your passion for Latin and Greek, as you engage in the most rewarding way to learn.
Get individual, hands-on Latin and Greek tutoring at your own pace and on your own schedule with your choice of VSI tutors.
You can read, speak, and think in Latin and Greek – and have fun doing it.
Learning languages doesn’t have to be a matter of repetition and memorization. In fact, when it’s conversational, you’ll learn it faster and with more joy.
Latin and Greek are not just academic studies, they are the living languages of our faith.
Learning ecclesiastical Latin or biblical Greek doesn’t have to take forever. You can learn to think, read, and speak proficiently in as little as one semester.
No residency requirement. No room and board required. No massive student debt.
Learn at a comfortable pace that allows you to continue living your life without interruption.
Discover the joy of small class sizes, where you’re not just a face in the crowd.
Add your contact information to our email list so you can be the first to know about dates and deadlines for our Summer and Fall 2024 term and Summer immersion workshops.
Sign up now, so you can stop searching for ways to bring your faith to life and start discovering eternal truths today.
Co-Founder, Veterum Sapientia Institute
Magistra - Introductory Latin
Magistra Annula is Associate Professor of Latin at Belmont Abbey College, coming to North Carolina after a decade at Wyoming Catholic College. She teaches Latin at the Charlotte Diocese’s new St. Joseph College Seminary in addition to her work at Belmont. Earlier in her career she studied with Fr. Reginald Foster and at the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome. Returning to her native California, Nancy founded SALVI in 1997 and served on its board until 2019, directing SALVI workshops (Rusticationes) around the country and abroad. She holds her PhD (2006) from UCLA.
Magister - Scholastic Theology
Pater Pelagius is a priest of the Diocese of Jefferson City, Missouri, ordained in 2010. He holds a PhD in systematic theology from the Catholic University of America and is the translator of several Scholastic works, including On the Motive of the Incarnation, the first volume in CUA’s Early Modern Catholic Sources series, and Book 2 of Thomas Aquinas’s Commentary on the Sentences, edited by the Aquinas Institute for the Study of Sacred Doctrine. Fr. Schrader is the author of The Shortcut to Scholastic Latin, published by the Paideia Institute Press. He has attended every Veterum Sapientia conference since its inception.
Chief Executive Officer
Christopher Owens completed licentiate studies at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (“the Angelicum”) with a concentration in Thomism, and is a doctoral candidate at the same university. His research investigates the question of predestination in the writings of the early Thomists. More generally, Christopher’s research interests in both philosophy and theology are focused on the preambles of faith, ontology, meta-ethics, and action theory as found principally in the Thomistic tradition, as well as in the medieval dialectic of the University of Paris. Additionally, Christopher serves on the editorial board for Philosophical News, the official journal of the European Society for Moral Philosophy, and is vice-president of the Albertus Magnus Center for Scholastic Studies, based in Norcia, Italy.
Magister
Fr. Joseph Matlak is a priest of the Eparchy of Saint Josaphat in Parma (Ukrainian Greek-Catholic). Born in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England, he studied Ancient History at King’s College London, and completed seminary studies and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology at the Catholic University of America, Washington DC. He is currently finishing a doctorate at the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge, England. He serves as administrator of Saint Basil the Great Parish in Charlotte, North Carolina, and is an instructor within the Honors College of Belmont Abbey College. He has previously worked in parishes and missions, schools, youth and young adult ministry, liturgical music, and Catholic media, among other roles.
Magister - Introductory Latin
Magister Marcus holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Thomas Aquinas College and a Latin Fluency Certificate from Academia Vivarium Novum, where he learned to speak Latin under Luigi Miraglia. He is currently a graduate student at Kentucky University, studying Latin under Terence Tunberg and Milena Minkova, and works as a classical languages’ instructor, Liberal Arts teacher, and editor at Instituto Hugo de São Vitor, Brazil.
Magister
Samuel Stahl earned a PhD in Classics at the State University of New York at Buffalo. His dissertation is an annotated verse translation from Claudian’s carmina minora; his passions, both personal and professional, include Christian poetry and ecumenism. In addition to his work with VSI, he teaches ELA at a Catholic grammar school in Western New York, where he lives with his wife and two cats.
Magister
Mr. Post holds a B.A. in philosophy from St. John’s Seminary College in Camarillo, CA and an M.A. in Medieval Studies from the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto. His areas of study and interest include codicology and palaeography and creating medieval and classical inks and writing materials. He particularly enjoys working in his garden surrounded by plants from the classical world such as papyrus, acanthus, figs, olives and grapes which also gives him an opportunity to practice his botanical Latin. He is a lifelong resident of southern California where he has been teaching and promoting Latin since 2004 and where he resides with his wife and six children.
Magister
Kit Adderley became interested in Ancient Rome at a young age, and following a particularly interesting and formative Roman History class in high school, decided to study Classics at Franciscan University of Steubenville. While studying and in subsequent years, Kit was blessed to attend many spoken Latin programs both in the United States and in Rome. Kit has taught Latin for 10 years at the high school and middle school level in Texas and Minnesota, most recently designing and implementing a spoken Latin program for high school that enjoyed tremendous success. Kit currently works in the finance industry but continues to love Latin and the classical world and is excited to work with Veterum Sapientia in bringing that knowledge to others.
Coordinator for Marketing and Course Development
Matthew Ratcliff is a graduate from Belmont Abbey College, where he fell in love with Latin while studying under Nancy Llewellyn and Gregory DiPippo, and where he encountered the natural method for the first time. He has previously taught for Aquinas Learning Center in Charlotte for the 2023-2024 academic year. Matthew firmly believes that everyone can learn Latin well. He loves incorporating physical movement in the classroom and is excited to share the joy of the language with every class!
Director of Academic Development, Assistant to the Dean, Magister - Introductory Latin
Magister Gregorius was born and raised in Providence, Rhode Island, where he attended a high school which offered an excellent Latin program. He attended McGill University in Montreal, where he studied Classical Languages and Literature, and the Augustinian Patristic Institute in Rome, where he studied the Fathers of the Church. For 23 years, he worked as a tour guide in Rome, and for the last 15 years, he has been a regular contributor (and for 10 years editor) to the New Liturgical Movement website.
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