Academic Excellence Meets
Immersive Latin Instruction
The Latin Major, offered in collaboration between the Veterum Sapientia Institute and Belmont Abbey College, combines the academic integrity of a Catholic liberal arts college with the immersive Latin instruction of VSI. In this partnership, students complete their Core Curriculum coursework through Belmont Abbey College, while all Latin courses are taught by VSI faculty using a spoken-Latin method rooted in the best of modern language pedagogies.
This program is designed for students seeking deep engagement with the language and literature of the Latin tradition—from classical antiquity to the Latin of the Catholic Church. Graduates emerge with both linguistic fluency and formation in the Western intellectual and spiritual heritage.
Program Objectives
- To cultivate active fluency in Latin: reading, writing, listening, and speaking
- To explore Latin texts from every major period: classical, patristic, medieval, and modern
- To prepare students for academic studies, teaching, and service to the Church through a rigorous and faithful Latin formation
- To transmit the intellectual and spiritual riches of the Latin tradition in the context of the Church’s living heritage
Program Structure
Institutional Partnership
- Core Curriculum (49 credits): Taken at Belmont Abbey College
- Latin Major Courses (36 credits): Taught by VSI using immersive, active Latin pedagogy
Degree Requirements
- 49 credit hours in the Core Curriculum (Belmont Abbey)
- 36 credit hours in Latin Major courses (VSI)
- 120 total credit hours required for graduation
- Minimum GPA of 2.0; no more than two passing grades in the major below “C”
Courses Offered
Year 1
Fall
- Latin 101 – Fundamentals of the Latin Language- Level 1
Spring
- Latin 102 – Fundamentals of the Latin Language- Level 2
Year 2
Fall
- Latin 103 – Fundamentals of the Latin Language- Level 3
Spring
- Latin 104 – Fundamentals of the Latin Language- Level 4
Year 3
Fall
- Latin 201 -Latin Composition
- Latin 202 – Intermediate Ecclesiastical Latin Readings
Spring
- LLC 331 – Classical Latin Prose 1
- LLC 332 – Classical Latin Prose 2
Year 4
Fall
- LLC 321 – Classical Latin Poetry 1
- LLC 322 – Classical Latin Poetry 2
- THC 350 – Catechesis I
- THC 351 – Catechesis II
- THD 370 – Magisterium I
- THD 371 – Magisterium II
Spring
- TLL 360 – Liturgy I: Ordinary of the Mass
- TLL 361 – Liturgy II: Propers of the Mass
- TPP 501 – Latin Patristics
- THH 400 – History of Theology
- THD 400 – Dogmatic Theology
- THM 400 – Moral Theology
Why Choose the Latin Major with VSI?
A Unique Partnership, A Singular Formation
The Latin Major offered through the Veterum Sapientia Institute in partnership with Belmont Abbey College is unlike any other undergraduate Latin program available today. It is intentionally crafted to restore the living use of Latin in education, culture, and the Church.
Rooted in Tradition, Alive in Practice
At VSI, Latin is not merely studied—it is lived. You'll speak, read, and write Latin daily, just as students in antiquity and the Church's own scholars once did. Courses follow the direct method pioneered by Hans Ørberg, where immersion and active use foster deep internalization.
Latin for the Church and the World
Unlike most classical programs, this major includes direct engagement with ecclesiastical texts—theology, liturgy, catechisms, and councils—in their original Latin. Learn how Latin has shaped Christian civilization, and be formed to serve the Church's intellectual and liturgical mission.
Faculty Who Live the Language
All Latin courses are taught by VSI's experienced and mission-driven instructors, who themselves operate in Latin as a living, spoken language. You'll learn from Catholic scholars committed to faithfully transmitting the Latin tradition in all its richness.
Launchpad for Teaching, Graduate Study, and Ecclesial Work
The major prepares students to teach Latin, pursue graduate studies in classics or theology, or serve in roles that require Latin fluency. With the renewed rise of classical education and interest in the Church's patrimony, Latin expertise is in growing demand.
Integrated with a Classical Liberal Arts Core
While your Latin formation is handled entirely by VSI, your core liberal arts education is completed at Belmont Abbey College, an authentically Catholic institution grounded in Benedictine tradition. This integration ensures both spiritual depth and academic excellence. This is not just a degree—it's a formation in the soul of Western civilization and an invitation to enter deeply into the life of the Church, the legacy of the saints, and the perennial wisdom of the Latin language.
Contact/Questions
For any questions, please contact Monica Charles, VSI Registrar and Director of Student Services.
Meet Our 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.
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.
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.
Magister Marcus Porto
Magister
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 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.
