Teaching Credential in Ecclesiastical Latin
A credential developed upon an integrated Catholic approach to Latin education in Catholic schools. Be equipped to pass on Latin in its fullness while transmitting Catholic faith and culture.
Our 18-month teaching credential program is designed to give current and aspiring teachers the tools to make their Latin classes more interactive, and integrate the Catholic faith into their student learning.
Building on more than 60 years of combined experience in a living Latin approach, our faculty has taken what they learned from Fr. Reginald Foster, one of the greatest Latin teachers of our times, and synthesized it with the very best of modern language learning.
For the first time this integrated Catholic approach is being made available to all.
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Primarily online + two in person workshops required. One as a student and one as a student teacher.
Weekly live sessions plus classroom planning, observation, and practice teaching.
Practicum/Capstone (6 credits) under faculty supervision.
Demonstrated instructional competence and a portfolio of teachable materials.
In this program, designed for current or future teachers, students will be able to:
Students are eligible to receive up to twelve hours of graduate credit with the following institutions for courses completed in our Teaching Credential:
First Pillar: Knowledge and Active Command of the Latin Language (3 credits, with co- and pre-requisites)
Second Pillar: Philosophy and Pedagogical Theory of Living Latin (6 credits)
Third Pillar: Deep Content Knowledge of the Latin Catholic Intellectual and Spiritual Tradition (6 credits)
Fourth Pillar: Application of Learning (6 credits)
Courses Offered:
All applicants must hold a Bachelor’s degree as well as the certificate of language proficiency in Ecclesiastical Latin from VSI, or be able to pass the proficiency exam, demonstrating a basic command of the Latin language in reading, writing, listening, and speaking competencies (after the first summer immersion workshop).
With approval, students may be admitted to the Teaching Credential program without this proficiency as a provisional student until that proficiency is attained.
Two payment options are offered. These plans cover the cost of tuition and lodging/meal costs for the in-person workshops.
Monthly Payment Plan: $8,000
Pay in Full: $7,750
All payments are non refundable. If truly extraordinary circumstances obtain, an appeal can be made via the Registrar or Academic Dean.
Many schools and dioceses have continuing education funding specifically for individual professional development. If you need assistance with formulating a request for funding, please contact Monica Charles at the address given below.
Many schools and dioceses have access to federal government title funding in support of continuing professional development. While title funding excludes explicitly faith-based courses, many of our courses may be able to be off-set by cost per credit hour through title funding. Please contact Monica Charles at the address given below, who may be able to assist you in making this sort of request.
VSI receives donations from generous benefactors who are eager to promote Catholic Latin Language Education. Because of this, we sometimes have a limited amount of funds available to assist students who can demonstrate a serious need for financial assistance. To apply, please fill out an application form HERE.
Teach Ecclesiastical Latin using active-method strategies that cultivate real comprehension.
Design clear, level-appropriate lessons with measurable objectives, formative checks, and spaced review.
Model accurate pronunciation, idiom, and usage while sustaining target-language interaction.
Select and sequence texts—liturgical, biblical, and theological—to support reading growth.
Lead prayerful, disciplined classrooms and small groups, integrating practice with the Church’s life.
Assemble a teaching portfolio: lesson plans, assessments, observed practice, and reflective analysis.
Yes. You should already read comfortably and sustain basic target-language interaction. If you are new, start with the Basic Certificate and consult advising about your path to the Teaching Credential.
No. The program provides mentored experience. Prior teaching helps, but it is not required.
Practicum will take place at one of our summer workshops. You can learn more here. Please contact us if you have any questions.
Instruction privileges ecclesiastical pronunciation and living comprehension while equipping you to draw on classical materials to serve reading growth.
This program forms teachers for Ecclesiastical Latin within Church and private educational contexts. It is distinct from civil licensure; consult your institution for local requirements.
Yes. You may adjust pacing term-to-term in consultation with advising.
Begin your preparation to teach
- Pope Francis
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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