Admissions

“Duc in altum!” – Put out into the deep!

Begin your sacred languages quest today.

Important Dates & Deadlines

Spring Semester

  • December 2nd – Registration Opens
  • January 13th – Classes Begin
  • January 27th – End of Drop/Add Period
  • May 9th – End of Term

Enrollment Steps

Regardless of your age, state in life, or experience, if you want to learn to speak, read, and write in Ecclesiastical Latin and Greek online, there is no better place than VSI.

1. Apply

Fill out the application form online. Application includes a $25 processing fee. We have rolling admissions, so fill out your application today!

2. Create your tuition plan

Upon admission, we’ll help you create your payment plan, including any financial aid for which you may qualify.

3. Enroll for classes!

Registration opens about a month before the beginning of the new semester. Watch your inbox!

* For those pursuing the Pontifical Diploma, students will be dual enrolled with both VSI and the Pontifical Institute for Higher Latin (PIAL) to obtain the DLE. Upon admission to the program, VSI will coordinate with PIAL on behalf of the student.

Tuition & Rates

Application Fees

Standard Application Fee: $25

Course Fees

  • $350 / Credit
  • $350 total tuition for each 1 credit course
  • $525 total tuition for each 1.5 credit course
  • $700 total tuition for each 2 credit course
  • $1050 total tuition for each 3 credit course

Payment due in full before beginning of semester. Please contact Registrar to explore payment plan options if necessary.

Technology and Course Materials Fees

  • $150 per year for technology fees (option to pay over two semesters)
  • $25 course materials fees (on some courses)

Special Fees

  • Transcripts: $25
  • Issuance of Certificates/Diplomas: $25

Fees specific to Pontifical Diploma in Ecclesiastical Latin

n.b.: PIAL follows the European university model. As a dually-enrolled student, some extra fees are charged which are specific to the university. In addition to partaking in the resources of PIAL, all credits earned are transferable and accepted by all institutions under the European Credit and Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). Many US institutions accept these credits!

One-time Fees:

  • PIAL Registration Fee: 500€ (~$540, including transfer fees)
  • PIAL Didactics Fee: 500€ (~$540, including transfer fees)
  • First Milestone Exam: $250
  • Second Milestone Exam: $250
  • Exam Retakes: $75 per retake

Scholarships and Financial Aid

The Financial Aid Office is only a phone call or an email away!

Phone: +1 (828) 468-8099

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Academics FAQs

  1. With rector’s approval, completion of the VSI DLE program will fulfill the Latin requirements for seminarians established by the Church. In fact, we currently partner with 4 seminaries to provide precisely this instruction!
  2. VSI is officially accredited through the Vatican’s Pontifical Institute for Higher Latin (PIAL) housed at the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome.
  3. Our instructors have been vetted by the top names in spoken Ecclesiastical Latin, and proven track records of effectiveness teaching both clergy and laity.
  4. We offer online as well as in-person teaching, serving the growing need for distance learning.
  5. Our courses are affordable.
  6. Our courses are lively and engaging.
  7. We offer tailored, flexible, and convenient courses meeting the needs of religious communities and busy parish priests.

Group Discount

For our summer workshops, when two or more students from the same family, religious community, or clergy of the same diocese register for the same course, they will both receive a 10% discount.

Referral Discount

A student that refers another to VSI will receive a $50 off registration fees in the semester they enroll.

A student may withdraw from any online course before the term begins for a full refund. A 50% refund will be given for withdrawal made after the term begins and before the end of drop/add deadline. No refund will be given for withdrawals made after the add/drop deadline of each term.

Office of the Registrar

Are you a current VSI student and would like to sign up for online courses, register for a workshop, or request an official transcript? Click on the appropriate link below.

Still have questions? Call +1 (828) 468-8099 or complete the form below to contact the registrar for assistance.

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Table of Contents

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

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