Syriac Summer School

3 – 28 July 2023

SY411 Readings in Syriac (not for credit)
F. Youhanna (Johannes; Elie) SEMAAN, O.L.M.

Enrol for one to four weeks of Syriac taught weekdays for an hour and a half daily.

This course is adapted to the level and needs of beginning students. As needed, the alphabet will be presented, but the majority of class time may be spent reading texts. During the first two weeks we review the verbal forms of the present and perfect tenses, personal pronouns, the various usages of nouns and adjectives. The teaching method is to recognize these forms in the texts read together in class. At the end of the course each student will be prepared to describe and explain short readings from the Syriac New Testament and to produce translations of the texts.

Enrol for weekdays:
One week: 3-7 July 2023
Two weeks: 3-14 July 2023
Three weeks: 3-21 July 2023
Four weeks: 3-28 July 2023

Hours: 8:30 – 10:00 (including a break).

Cost: £90 per week

A fuller description of the course is available here.

SY511 Explorers in Syriac Literature: Publishing unedited Syriac manuscripts from the British Library
F. Youhanna (Johannes; Elie) SEMAAN, O.L.M.

We plan to go to the British Library and examine their Syriac mansuscripts. We shall make copies of selected texts and bring them to the Benedictine Institute at Ealing Abbey. There we shall work to understand the Syriac text and to translate it into English. Our goal is to publish these as of yet unedited Syriac texts from the British Library. If you are interested in joining our project, please contact Elie Semaan at this email link.

Dates: 3-28 July, weekdays

Hours: After 10:00 AM and afternoons

Cost, dependent upon student numbers
Two weeks: £280
Four weeks: £500

A fuller description of the project is available here.

LA411 Latin First Experience: Beginning Latin (not for credit – no exams)

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.

Three hours including a break.

Cost: £350

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

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

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.

Three hours including a break.

Cost: £350

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

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.

Three hours including a break.

Cost: £350

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

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)

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).

1.45 hours, weekdays.
Runs after the advanced course.

Cost for Reading Cicero’s Letters alone: £195

Cost for enrolling in both L711 Proficient Latin
and in LA811 Reading Cicero’s Letters: £495 discounted total for both

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

A listing of our courses for the summer of 2022 is available here,
and for the summer of 2023 is based on that of summer 2021 found here.

© James Leachman, O.S.B., page updated by DM on 16 December 2022.