Why Learn Latin – From the Obvious & Beyond

I started this web site nearly two week ago now...  I've articulated - perhaps overly so - why I started this site.  The seed from which this site is growing was learning a language [Latin] I had no business learning, given my utter failures to learn any language outside of my native English.  I was thoroughly…

Report: Significant Progress in the Formatting of the OFFICIA PIETATIS

I have made some significant progress in formatting many of the first several sections of Officia Pietatis. The first part of the prayer book's format is  completed as well as many of the other sections. Take a look here and scroll around.  Some of the formatting may seem a bit random.  However, I assure you…

A Translation Snippet: Section I. Morning Prayer – Act of Faith

One of the reasons I started this site, was to force me to start translating the Officia Pietatis - a daunting task for many - even those well-versed in the language. For me, it has been the fear of scrutiny in such a public forum, showing my weaknesses with respect to the language itself.  Also,…

The Preface – in English that I wrote for the Officia Pietatis

What you see before you is a facsimile – not in the usual sense as a scanned copy, per se – but a near copy of the original, a best effort re-creation of the 1734 printing. Retyped, as close as I could reproduce in the format and style of the original that I personally own.…

More Thoughts on How this Site may Evolve…

Thursday evenings, I host a men's group where we spend the first sixty to ninety minutes in random discussion and have a dinner that I prepare.  I miss most of the conversation as I hurry about attending to the fire for the pizza and serve soup that I have been stewing for several hours. Afterwards, we sit down in my library and I recite as my usual custom a Prayer that Thomas Aquinas wrote & recited before study, preaching, or writing...

First Post: What was I Thinking? – the Long & the Short of it…

The creation of this site can be traced back to when I started collecting books about twenty years ago. Roughly, 14 years ago, after reading Homer's Iliad & The Odyssey,  I decided to learn Latin so that I could read Virgil's continuation of the story in the original language - The Æneid.  As I progressed, very slowly but steadily, I discovered that eBay had a much better selection of books in Latin to read than any bookstore - new or used.  It was obvious that the largest selection of Latin was ecclesiastical - by a very large margin.  I decided to purchase a book on Moral Theology by a Jesuit priest from the year 1748...