Living Latin

Vox Latina vivit et floret Romae

OK smartypants, for those of us who are a little rusty in the language of the Roman Empire, a translation please?

Spoken Latin is alive and well and living in Rome.

People nattering away in a dead language? Some are nattering and some stumbling, others flowing like fountains, but, yes, Latin conversation, poems, songs, stories and even jokes can be heard in a Living Latin summer school on the Gianicolo hill in Rome. The course runs through June and July and attracts Latinists from around the world.

Who runs the course? Father Reginald T Foster, a charismatic Carmelite friar from Milwaukee with the gentle growl of a downtown newspaper seller. His Midwestern accent gives the ancient language a warm vitality so that a simple reading of Ovid leaps off the page and a rendition of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star ( Mica, Mica, Parva Stella ) resonates like a sung Mass. With his contagious enthusiasm and his encyclopaedic knowledge of the Renaissance and Roman history, he makes speaking, thinking and writing in Latin the most natural thing in the world.

Is this his day job? No, in addition to teaching regular Latin grammar throughout the year at the University of Rome, he is the apostolic secretary to the Pope. Part of a team of five, he helps deal with all the Latin communications of the Holy See, ranging from a papal bull announcing the new Archbishop of Uganda to the Latin wording on the Vatican cash dispenser.

So why did he set up the summer school? Love of all things Latin combined with a proselytising zeal. Things quieten down a little in the summer in the Vatican when His Holiness goes on holiday, so Foster decided to set up the course to share the Latin word. Every year the classes get bigger as news of the course spreads by word of mouth, with this year's group topping 60 students.

How tough are the lessons? Tough. It was all Greek to me, but I am a Latin virgin. Before being taken on, students must prove their linguistic mettle. Even experienced Latin teachers are intimidated as Foster scuttles through the eclectic lesson sheet, randomly swooping on a pupil for translation or explanation. The method produces an air of nervous concentration, but Foster seems to know just how far to push and is never cruel or discouraging.

Who is on the course? There are Latin teachers wanting to practise what they preach and trainee priests wanting to preach what they practise, along with classics students, lawyers and the odd doctor. You are also in the company of Cicero, Julius Caesar, Gregory the Great, Thomas Aquinas, Michelangelo and a host of brilliant humanists. "All good friends of ours," as Foster never tires of repeating.

Being stuck in a classroom for two months doesn't sound the best way to see Rome. Ah, but it is. Respice, adspice, prospice - examine the past, examine the present, examine the future. Seen through almost three millennia of Latin texts, the city opens up to reveal a continuous history of art, architecture and religion (or so I am told). And after six days of intensive Latin in the schoolroom, Sunday is given over to a linguistic excursion: Cicero's birthday, the Pope's private gardens, Hadrian's summer residence - conducted, of course, in Latin.

Is this part of a Latin resurgence, then? There have been calls by Italian scholars to introduce Latin as the standard common European language, with Virgil as the official poet of Europe. A more realistic view of the course is a way of spreading a greater understanding of 2,500 years of European history.

So how useful is it on the streets of Rome? There are still ancient Roman inscriptions all over the city, and as Latin was the official language of the Roman Catholic Church until Vatican II, it is a great way of understanding more about the thousands of churches and cathedrals in Rome. For those keen on keeping pace with the 21st century, there is a dictionary of modern Latin nouns and phrases called Lexicon Recentis Latinitatis, but the man on the Roman Lambretta seems to be sticking to his colloquial Italian.

So how can a dedicated Latinist have a healthy chat? For four evenings of the week, Foster invites those not too exhausted from six hours of lessons to speak more informally, sharing wine and conversation under the trees of his monastery. Naturally, as the wine flows, the faltering antique language takes flight and the Roman hills are alive with the sound of Latin.

Considerations . . .

1 There is a written examination that Foster sends out for those interested. So start brushing up on your semi-deponents and ablative absolutes now if you want to go on next year's course.

2 This year is jubilee year MM, an appropriate time for a little Latin chatting.

3 Ubi Romae estis facite ut Romani solebant . . . loquare Latine! When in Rome do as the Romans did . . . speak Latin!

John Morris ©