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Ab Initio/Vinculum Latin Immersion Workshops 2025

Hosted at
St. Bernard’s Abbey

Attendee Information Page

We are excited to welcome you to the annual Ab Initio and Vinculum Summer Immersion workshops this summer! Among our attendees of Latin scholars and enthusiasts, we will be welcoming our newest Teaching Credential Cohort at Vinculum this year!

2025 Theme: Communio Sanctorum

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 and the Angels, so for this year’s edition of Vinculum, we will turn to the Communion and Cultus of the Saints. The readings will be selected from the Bible, the sacred liturgy, the Church Fathers, and theological and historical writers of both the medieval and modern period. In addition to textual discussion around the theological and spiritual traditions related to the Saints, visual presentations will be given on some of the traditions of how they are portrayed in art.

When

  • June 30-July 6, 2025
  • Arriving: Monday, June 30, 4-6pm
  • Departing: Sunday, July 6, 10am-12pm

*St Bernard’s can accommodate those who need to stay some extra time on campus following the workshop. This would need to be arranged beforehand, so if you have any questions or concerns about arriving late or leaving early, please contact us and we can help you make the necessary arrangements.

Where

  • St. Bernard Abbey
  • 1600 St. Bernard Drive,
    Cullman, Alabama, 35055

St. Bernard Abbey is located right off of Highway 278, about 4 miles from I-65. They are an hour North of Birmingham, Alabama and an hour South of Huntsville, Alabama.

The closest airport is Huntsville (HSV) airport, 33.2 miles away. The second airport option would be Birmingham (BHM) which is 42.9 miles away.

Accessibility

Two handicap-accessible rooms are available. Each contain one queen-size bed, private bath, telephone, and individual room temperature  control.  The Retreat Center has two meeting rooms:  one large meeting room that seats up to 80 people & one small meeting room that seats up to 16, all handicap-accessible. Please let us know if you require these accommodations. 

  • Free Wi-Fi is available on campus 
  • The dress code for the workshop is business casual. All clergy and religious are invited to wear habit/clerics. 
  • If you are driving, there is parking available on campus.
  • Please contact Gregory DiPippo if you have any trouble arriving, or if you will be arriving later than 6PM. He can be reached at (704) 608-4945.
  • Upon arrival, check in with us to receive your key, workshop packet, schedule, and campus map.

A typical day will take you through intensive class work in the morning, Mass, 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.

  • All liturgies are optional
  • Masses will occur in the morning at 7:30AM
  • Rosary, followed by other evening devotions will be prayed each evening at 7:00PM

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

Boniface Hall at St. Bernard Abbey

  • A blanket, pillow, sheets, and towels are all provided. You will need to bring your own toiletries and you will share a common bathroom in your hallway. A few hangers are also supplied in the closet.

Meals will be taken at the Dining Hall. The cost of all meals is included in the tuition rate (see below). We will try to accommodate students with dietary restrictions. If you did not note this on your registration form, please email [email protected].

  • Toiletries, including shower shoes if desired
  • Notepad: although keep in mind this is an oral method of learning
  • Your favorite Latin Dictionary
  • Snacks allowed if you have particular preferences
  • An extra blanket, if desired. There is one quilt cover on the bed.

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 - 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.

Mr. Zachary Thomas

Magister - Classical Latin

A graduate of Wyoming Catholic College, Mr. Thomas studies the Latin Middle Ages at Cornell University, where he focuses on allegorical exegesis of Scripture and the liturgy. He has taught Latin courses to high school, elementary students, and seminarians using Hans Orberg’s Lingua Latina series and run Latin discussion tables for college students.

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.

Dr. Nancy Llewellyn

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.

Fr. Dylan Schrader, PhD

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.

Mr. Christopher Owens, STM

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.

Fr. Joseph Matlak

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 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.

Dr. Samuel Stahl

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 Tod Post, MA

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.

Kit Adderley

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.

Matthew Ratcliff

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!

Magister Gregory DiPippo

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.

Andrea Allen

Title

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