Dates
Monday afternoon, August 3, through
Sunday morning, August 9, 2026
Location
Cottonwood Farms
Dexter, Michigan
Overview
Do you want to improve your command of Latin? Has it been a while since you studied Latin and you’d like to reactivate your knowledge? Would you like greater confidence in pronouncing Latin prayers? Ab Initio and Vinculum are our week-long workshops for lay Catholics who want to add a living dimension to their study of Latin. Our workshop series seeks to respond to St John XXIII’s call to revitalize the Latin language in the Catholic Church, which he made in his 1962 Apostolic Constitution Veterum Sapientia (English | Latin) and its Ordinationes (English | Latin).
Ab Initio, “from the beginning”, means what it says: a first experience of Latin. The only prerequisites are interest in learning and willingness to participate by listening and speaking. Even if you have never done a word of Latin before, our experienced teachers will take you through the first steps, not by memorizing words and endings, but by really speaking the language from day one. We won’t have you reading Cicero or St. Augustine by the end of the week, but we are confident that you will enjoy yourself and be excited to learn more! This workshop is also for those who have some prior knowledge of Latin, but have never previously used it as a spoken language, and for those who may not have used it for a while, but want to get back into the swing of things.
For those at an intermediate or advanced level, broadly defined as those who have had three or more years of Latin in high school or college, we offer Vinculum. In addition to the regular daily use that comes from an immersive learning experience, we will offer classroom exercises to reinforce and improve your mastery of the more important features of the language, and group discussions of original texts be conducted in Latin, led by one of the magistri. Taught by VSI faculty, Vinculum combines a week-long adventure in the Church’s Latin heritage with an intensive, immersive experience of the language itself.
If you are interested, but not sure whether you would be better off with Ab Initio or Vinculum, we’ll be glad to talk it over with you and help you decide.
2026 Theme: St. Joseph
Each year, materials for the reading sessions at our workshops are chosen on a specific theme. In previous years, we have discussed the Virgin Mary, the angels, the papacy, and the communion and cultus of the Saints. For this year we will turn to our partner’s patron – St. Joseph. Readings about St. Joseph will be selected from the Bible, the sacred liturgy, the Church Fathers, and theological and historical writers of both the medieval and modern period.
When
- August 3 - August 9, 2026
- Arriving: Monday, August 3, 4-6pm
- Departing: Sunday, August 9 10am-12pm
Where
- Cottonwood Farns
- 4580 Farrell Rd
Dexter MI, 48130
Please note that this is a non-residential workshop – daily activities will be carried out at this location, but participants must arrange for their own housing.
Eligibility
This workshop are open to all Catholics over the age of eighteen, and to High-school students accompanied by a guardian. Non-Catholics may also attend on the condition that they have the required Latin experience, are respectful of our Catholic identity, and use Ecclesiastical pronunciation.
People who will benefit from participation in Vinculum and Ab Initio include:
- Latin teachers who would like to practice speaking in Latin in preparation to use living Latin in their own classrooms.
- Music directors and schola masters who would like to improve their mastery of the Latin to sign better and teach others to sing in the Language of the Church.
- Homeschool parents that have some formal training in Latin and would like to improve so that they may better teach their children.
- Latin Mass attendees who have taken some courses in Latin and would like to “activate” their knowledge to be able to more actively participate in the liturgy.
- Any lay person who has a background in the Classics and who would like to improve their fluency in the language.
- Priests, deacons, seminarians, male and female religious who are not able to attend the Veterum Sapientia Workshop.
Note: The above is intended to provide typical examples, but is not an exhaustive list. Potential applicants whose experience does not fit any of the categories above are still encouraged to apply. Such applications will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
A typical day will take you through intensive class work in the morning, a lunch break offering time for rest and meditation, an afternoon session combining language with games and physical activity, followed by a Rosary and after-dinner time for fellowship. Your classroom sessions will be immersive, featuring engaging, supportive exercises in speaking, reading, and writing. These will help you grow in understanding the mechanics of the language and internalize new vocabulary by using it. Classes and instructional activities (e.g. meals, games, walks) will be conducted in Latin appropriate to your level of comprehension and that of your fellow participants.
Your Daily Experience
As a participant, you’ll work with your instructors in plenary and small-group class sessions for a minimum of six and a maximum of eight classroom hours each day.
Room & Board
This is a non-residential workshop — participants are responsible for securing their own housing and arranging for transport to and from the workshop location throughout the week.
Daily communal lunches and dinners are included in the tuition rate (see below). We will try to accommodate students with dietary restrictions. You will have the opportunity to explain any such restrictions in a form which you will receive after registering.
VSI is committed to making learning the Language of the Church as widely available as possible. To that end we make every effort to keep our tuition and fees low. Here is the breakdown:
- Tuition: $750
Each student is responsible for their own housing arrangements and travel to and from the workshop.
Faculty
Dr. Nancy Llewellyn, PhD (UCLA)
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.
Gregory DiPippo
Director of Academic Development
Magister
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.
Mr. Marcus Porto
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.
