Liturgy Institute London

Covid-19 Response

Instruction will be online in 2021. Local residents may attend in person, but the House for Guests at Ealing Abbey will be closed. Times of course and seminar sessions will be determined by the Registrar during the week before each begins for the convenience of enrolled students participating from different time-zones.

A listing of our courses for the summer of 2020 is available here,
and for the summer of 2022 here.

Download our e-mail flyer here and distribute it to others by e-mail. Download our colour brochure here.

The Institutum Liturgicum is established to promote liturgical research and post-graduate level education in liturgy in England. Our courses summer 2021 are based on the licentiate curriculum of the Pontifical Institute of Liturgy, Rome, taught in English in London in summer and accredited by KU Leuven in Belgium. The Institum Liturgicum is endorsed by the Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of England and Wales and of Belgium. The following links provide the full course listings at KU Leuven for the: Research Master of Advanced Studies in Theology and Religion.

16 – 27 August 2021

(Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 August are free days)

The first epxerience may be offered online.
If health and safety permit, the Third and Fourth Experiences will be offered in person.
Non-residential students who commute daily to these lessons may enrol in both weeks or in the first week only; limited accommodation is reserved to students enrolled in both weeks.
Note: only L711 may be taken for academic credit.
Online courses offered twice weekly during academic term may be found here.

Canon Law Students at KU Leuven may take these summer courses and study Latin online in two sessions weekly throughout the academic term to prepare for two proficiency exams at KU Leuven. They are encouraged to take Beginning Latin before commencing their studies at Leuven. During the next summer they may take the Intermediate Latin, which will prepare them to take the sufficiency exam for Christian Latin (A08A0A), which covers about the first 25 chapters of Collin’s Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin, including some usages of the subjunctive and some usages of the four participles, which we present in our intermediate course. During their third summer they may take both Proficient Latin for Liturgists, which also considers canonical texts regarding liturgy, along with Readings Cicero’s Letters, both of which will prepare them for the advanced Latin exam at KU Leuven. They are also welcome to begin their study of Latin later in their programme of study at KU Leuven.

LA411 Latin First Experience: Beginning Latin (not for credit – no exams)
Lydia Roberts with Jonathan Day

No knowledge of the language is presumed. The First Experience of the Latin language introduces the student to authentic Latin literature with a clear presentation of how human thought is expressed in Latin. Learn to pronounce and read Latin from original texts, both ancient and modern. Learn to compose your own sentences. Instruction given in English, working patiently, using authentic texts, developing a clear understanding of what the author originally said. We use the teaching method of Reginald Foster OCD directly from his book Ossa Latinitatis Sola along with a workbook in development by Laura Pooley which allows students to cover most of the First Experience in ten weekdays comprising all the verb-times in the indicative, active and passive, the system of commands and nouns and adjectives in most of their usages.

Location: Benedictine Institute,
74 Castlebar Road, Ealing W5 2DD

Dates: 16-20 August (Monday – Friday; Saturday 21 – Sunday 22 August are free days)
and 23-27 August (Monday to Friday)

Because of the demands of online teaching, we have scheduled our Latin courses for 3 hours, in cluding a 24 mintue break. This is the same length of time as our accredited courses.

A fuller description of the course is available here.
Enrol by contacting the Registrar at il@liturgyinstitute.org.

LA511 Latin Second Experience is a conversational course not currently offered.

LA611 Latin Third Experience: Intermediate Latin (not for credit – no exams)
Daniel Vowles

There are two main components of study: the subjunctive and the four participles with their very many respective usages. Students will begin to understand the meaning and usages of the subjunctive mode, mostly in reading but also in writing the Latin language. They also learn the forms and natural meaning of the four participles, and their usages including the ablative absolute. We use the teaching method of Reginald Foster OCD, retired papal Latinist of forty years, directly from his book Ossa Latinitatis Sola along with a workbook in development by Laura Pooley which allows students to cover the essentials of the First Experience in ten weekdays. The material covered in his First Experience is presumed for this course, including all times of the indicative, active and passive; the system of commands; noun and adjectives in most of their usages. This course covers most of the Third Experience in ten weekdays.

This not-for-credit course is designed for students preparing for the exam following the initial semester of Latin at KU Leuven, and the Latin proficiency exam at the Pontifical Institute of Liturgy, Rome.

Location: Benedictine Institute,
74 Castlebar Road, Ealing W5 2DD

Dates: 16-20 August (Monday – Friday; Saturday 21 – Sunday 22 August are free days)
and 23-27 August (Monday to Friday)

Because of the demands of online teaching, we have scheduled our Latin courses for 3 hours, in cluding a 24 mintue break. This is the same length of time as our accredited courses.

A fuller description of the course is available here.
Enrol by contacting the Registrar at il AT liturgyinstitute DOT org.

L711 Latin Fourth Experience: Proficient Latin for Liturgists (and Canonists)
(elective for IL certificate) KU Leuven 4 credits
Prof. Daniel McCarthy OSB taught by Laura Pooley

Students will encounter Latin liturgical texts and canonical texts on liturgy written by authors from many ages. They will proceed to a greater facility and ease with the Latin language and come to a more detailed and direct understanding of liturgical texts. They will develop a fuller expression of liturgical ideas accurately and beautifully in both Latin and English. We use the teaching method of Reginald Foster OCD directly from the draft copy of his book Ossa Latinitatis Sola along with a workbook in development by Laura Pooley which allows students to cover most of the Fourth Experience in ten weekdays. The material covered in its First and Third Experiences is presumed for this course, including the natural meaning and usages of the four participles and the forms and very many usages of the subjunctive mode. Because of limited hours of instruction, we shall cover the main elements, but not all of the Fourth Experience. These include indirect discourse (accusative with the infinitive), gerunds and gerundives, conditional sentences.

Canon law students of KU Leuven who are qualified may enrol in this course along with the course Reading Cicero’s Letters as a preparation for the advanced exam in Latin at KU Leuven. This course was originally designed for liturgists, but includes a consideration of canonical texts relating to liturgy such as Sacrosanctum Concilium, Praenotanda, Decreta and sententia that involve liturgical law.

Location: Benedictine Institute,
74 Castlebar Road, Ealing W5 2DD

Dates: 16-20 August (Monday – Friday; Saturday 21 – Sunday 22 August are free days)
and 23-27 August (Monday to Friday)

Because of the demands of online teaching, we have scheduled our Latin courses for 3 hours, in cluding a 24 mintue break. This is the same length of time as our accredited courses.

All students of proficient Latin for liturgists are encouraged to also enrol with IL London in Reading Cicero’s Letters, LA811.

For credit students enrol for both weeks:

Enrol for credit with KULeuven: B-KUL-A07E3A
and then enrol for the afternoon sessions with IL London (£160).
You may also enrol in Reading Cicero’s Letters (£240 total for morning and Cicero)

Not-for credit students enrol for both weeks:

Enrol for the whole daily session with IL London (£320).
You may also enrol in Reading Cicero’s Letters (£400 total for both)

Hours (yet to be confirmed):

10-13.00
14.00-17.00 (with a break)
(17.00-18.15 Reading Cicero’s Letters)

A fuller description of the course is available here.
Enrol by contacting the Registrar at il AT liturgyinstitute DOT org.

LA811 Latin Fifth Experience: Reading Cicero’s Letters (not for credit – no exams)
Jonathan Day

This is a reading course of the Letters Cicero wrote to family and friends. Every letter integrates many aspects of the Latin language, and quickly provides a synthesis of the whole language including: the sequence of tenses, indirect discourse and question, expressions of purpose and result and characteristic result, conditionals, modal attraction; gerunds, gerundives, ablatives absolute. Students will gain a more synthetic understanding of the Latin language and gain greater clarity about its modes of expression and their ambiguities. We use the teaching method of Reginald Foster OCD, retired papal Latinist of forty years, directly from his book Ossa Latinitatis Sola, in which this course is equivalent to the Fifth Experience, ongoing readings of Latin. Students may take this course in conjunction with L711 Latin Fourth Experience: Proficient Latin for Liturgists (and Canonists).

Location: Benedictine Institute,

74 Castlebar Road, Ealing W5 2DD

Dates: 16-20 August (Monday – Friday; Saturday 21 – Sunday 22 August are free days)
and 23-27 August (Monday to Friday)

Hours: 90 minutes.

A fuller description of the course is available here.
Enrol by contacting Clare Cogswell, Registrar, at il AT liturgyinstitute DOT org.

FAQs: Frequently asked questions about the summer session

© James Leachman, O.S.B., page updated by DM on 18 September 2020.