St. Basil

The Mass of St. Basil. Pierre Subleyras.

Today is the feast of St. Basil the Great, the influential Christian theologian of the 4th century. One of the most beautiful prayers of Basil is as follows:

Blessed art Thou, O Christ our God, who hast
revealed the fishermen as most wise, having
sent upon them the Holy Spirit. And through
them Thou hast fished the universe, O Lover of
mankind, glory to Thee!

Today in Latin we are doing some review. We are reviewing the basics for some of us who are having trouble.

Agenda:

1. Pray
2. Latin I Recensio (review)
3. Review HW:
1. Ask the Lord to give you a heart of understanding.

Cap VI: Via Latina...many oh which St. Paul was most likely acquainted.

CARAVAGGIO. The Conversion of St. Paul.
1600. Oil on cypress wood.
Odescalchi Balbi Collection, Rome.

Consider this aspect of St. Paul's life: his conversion. Note the emphasis on Saul's blindness. Note Caravaggio's use of light. Note his ability to create the "slow-motion" depiction of the event. Note the pleading of heaven: "Saule, Saule quid me persequeris."

Agenda:

1. Pray 
2. Study
3. Vocab Quiz: Cap VI.
4. Review HW: 
1. Be perfect

Saint Paul

ANDREA DI BARTOLO. St Paul. 1400s.
Oil on panel. Private collection

This week marks the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. Where would Christendom be without St. Paul? For he is the apostle to the gentiles, who challenged Peter's scruples about the Levitical law. In other words, with St. Paul, we might not have bacon.

In Latin today, we are learning more pronouns, which means we are going to have to become acquainted with more charts. Yay.

Agenda:

1. Pray
2. Recensio vocabula pro Cap VI
3. Finish Pompeii: The Last Day
4. Review HW: 
1. Study words for Chapter 6. Quiz Tuesday (1/29). 
2. Be good.

Sanctus Paulus Apostolus

GRECO, El. Apostle St Paul. 1610-14
Oil on canvas. Museo de El Greco, Toledo

Aside from Constantine, another figure whose affect on the world was even greater. You might be tempted to say of this depiction of St. Paul, "Wow, look at the existential features in this portrait, the cloven beard, the elongation of the face, limbs, and digits--as if time we stretching him gaunt and thin." But you would be wrong to say all that. For existentialism did not exist in the 17th century. This is El Greco. Tomorrow is the Feast Day of St. Paul.

In Latin today, we are reading and studying a very important part of Roman civilization and life.

Agenda:

1. Pray
2. Grammar Quiz: Cap V
1. Correct and review
3. Read Lingua Latina: CAPITVLVM VI together and take notes on the grammar.
4. Watch Pompeii
5. Review HW: 
1. Study words for Chapter 6. Quiz Tuesday (1/29). 
2. Be good.

Constantine the Great

PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA
Vision of Constantine. 1452-66.
Fresco. San Francesco, Arezzo

If you don't know the story of Constantine's conversion, then your education is suffering and that we must remedy that. The reason why Constantine changed the world has everything to do with his conversion, the Cross, and the defeat of Mentius. It also has much to do with Nicaea.
 
Agenda:

1. Pater noster
2. Finish Cap V Pensum A
3. Translation Exercise:
1. Get a partner. 
2. Translate lines 95-105.
4. Review HW:
1. Finish Translation of Cap V.
2. Study grammar for Chapter 5. Quiz Block Day (1/24)
3. Study words for Chapter 6. Quiz next  Tuesday (1/28).
4. Be perfect.

Constantine and St. Helena

UNKNOWN MASTER, German
Darmstadt Altarpiece: Constantine and His Mother Helena
Venerating the True Cross.
207x 109 cm. Staatliche Museen, Berlin

Yesterday marked the annual celebration of a a man who is known for making some of the greatest advances in civil rights. But yesterday also marked the celebration of two much more important figures, whose influence have had a much greater impact not merely on American society or even Western civilization at large but also on the entire world. The effect was an earthquake that shook every aspect of antiquity and the already fading structures of Roman empire. It began, as all truly great things do, with a mother and was realized in her son. The two people were Constantine the Great and his mother St. Helena. The feast day was yesterday, though few us knew or probably even cared.
 
Agenda:

1. Pater noster
2. Chart Quiz: 3rd Person Personal Pronouns  
3. Recensio Pensum A
4. Intro Cap VI Vocabula
5. Review HW:
1. Study grammar for Chapter 5. Quiz Block Day (1/24)
2. Study words for Chapter 6. Quiz next  Tuesday (1/28).
3. Be perfect.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

No school.


Image: Westminster Abbey, West Door, Four of the ten 20th Century- Mother Elizabeth of Russia, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Archbishop Oscar Romero, and Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Villa et Hortus: Pars III

Cave Canem. "Beware the dog." 1st Century. 
Mosaic found outside a house in Pompeii.

In Latin today we are continuing our study of the villa and of the hortus, and of  all material elements that make up the Roman household. Consider this sign, which is still with us today, though not nearly as beautifully and intricately constructed as this mosaic, wrought in the 1st century and discovered later in the ruined city of Pompeii. 

Agenda:

1. Pray 
2. Lecture on the Villa et Hortus Romanorum. 
3. Lingua Latina, Cap V
1. Do Pensum A
4. Review HW: 
1. Study words for Chapter 6. Quiz next week. 

Villa et Hortus: Pars II

CIMA da Conegliano. Baptism of Christ.
1493-94. Oil on panel.
San Giovanni in Bragora, Venice.

In Latin we study nouns. Whooh. Hmmm. Well you should be joyful, for we are concluding the cases today. In addition, I must remind you all of a very old Latin phrase: Repetitio mater memoriae est. You can't expect remember things (in or out of school) if you don't repeat your acquaintance with them.

Agenda:

1. Pray 
2. Review Personal Pronouns and Latin Charts
3. Cap V in Lingua Latina:
1. Do Pensum C. Work in pairs, one paper. 
4. Review HW: 
1. Study grammar concepts for Cap V. Quiz on Block Day (1/17):
1. Personal Pronouns (3rd Person)
2. Imperative and Indicative Verb Moods
3. Ablative Prepositions 
2. Be perfect.

The Baptism and the Flood

TINTORETTO. The Baptism of Christ. 1579-81
Oil on canvas. Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice

Note the contrast. Note the cataclysm. Note the apocalyptic imagery in Tintoretto's Baptism of Christ, suggesting that this event was not merely a detail in the life of Christ. It was a fulfillment of ages-old prophecy, as we see in this depiction. Consider this destructive imagery in light of its typological significance that relates to the great Deluge of Noah's time. 
 
Agenda: 

1. Pray
2. Hand work back. 
3. Personal Pronouns. Study them!
4. Finish Lecture on Cap V Grammar: 
1. Ablative Prepositions
2. Verbs: Imperativus / Indicativus
3. Personal Pronouns
5. Review HW: 
1. Study concepts for Cap V. Quiz on Block Day (1/18).
2. Study for Personal Pronouns Quiz.  
3. Be perfect.

Baptismus Christi est perbonus.

Veronese, Paolo. Baptism of Christ.
1561. Oil on canvas. Venice.

Here is another depiction of Christ's baptism. Again, it's clear that artists such as Veronese wish to show that Christ's baptism was an cosmological event. Note the heavens riven in two. Note the humility in the posture of Christ.

In Latin today, we are translating the conclusion of The Flood Story in the Bibilia Sacra. In addition, we are continuing our study of Rome.
 
Agenda:

1. Pray
2. Read together Cap V in Lingua Latina
3. Lecture on Grammar for Cap V
1. Accusative Case Endings (1st & 2nd Declension)
2. Ablative Case Endings (1st & 2nd Declension)
4. Review HW: 
1. Study grammar concepts for Chapter 5. Quiz on Friday (Block Day).

Cap 5: in Villa et Horto

A Pompeian Interior. Luigi Bazzani.
1882. Oil on panel. Dahesh Museum of Art.

Today we begin our study of the most important location in all the world. It was more important perhaps even than the temples of gods to the ancient peoples living in the basin of the Mediterranean. Today this location is now under attack and the changes of social and moral decadence are wearing away the significance of this place in the culture of the West. It is the home. Today we learn more about it in Roman culture.

Agenda:

1. Pater noster
2. Study a bit
3. Vocab Quiz: Cap V
4. Read Capitulum V in Linga Latina together.
5. Begin Lecture on Cap V Grammar.
6. Review HW:
1. Study the grammar notes for Cap V.
2. Be perfect.

Verbum Patri

ANGELICO, Fra. Adoration of the Magi. 1423-24
Tempera and gold on panel. Abegg-Stiftung, Bern.

Why did the Magi travel more than 700 miles to seek the vision and opportunity to honor a king? Who knows ultimately. But what we do know is that they saw much more--not merely a king but the Word of Father. Words have meaning. They have meaning because of the one Word that gives meaning to all words.
Thus, in Latin today, we are working further on getting acquainted with our new vocabulary.

Agenda:

1. Pray
2. Study words for Cap V
3. Vocabula Pensum: Write sentences using 10 words from Cap V. Highlight words used. You must select words with the following parts of speech:
1. 3 nouns
2. 5 verbs
3. 2 adjectives
4. Review HW:
1. Study words for Chapter 5.  
2. Study Latin Pronouns
3. Be perfect.

Felix sit annus novus

LOTTO, Lorenzo. Nativity. 1523.
Oil on wood. National Gallery of Art, Washington.

Happy New Year. And if you don't know, we are still in the Christmas season, so Merry Christmas. Gaudite! In spite of your disappointment at going back to school, rejoice!

Agenda:

1. Pray
2. Finish reading and discussion of Cap IV in Lingua Latina
3. Intro Vocabula Pensum pro Cap V
4. Recensio Latina Pronomena
5. Review HW:
1. Study words for Chapter 5.  
2. Be perfect.

Epiphany: the world begins again.

DÜRER, Albrecht. Adoration of the Magi. 1504.
Oil on wood. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

We begin the world anew, all things starting over, the slate wiped clean. You, having reflected upon your the last year, have resolved to work hard and to do better in school. And I, of course, am glad to hear of your new year's resolutions.

Agenda:

1. Pray
2. New Seating Chart for Quarter 3
3. Discuss the "road map" of this next semester:
1. The week
2. The year
4. Review Semester 1 Finals:
1. Check your score. See what you missed.
2. Write a brief account of how you could have better prepared for the Final exam.
3. No more than a paragraph in length.
5. Review HW:
1. Study words for Cap V.
2. Study the Latin Pronouns
3. Be perfect.

 

A normal quarter.

The Circumcision.
MANTEGNA, Andrea. 
1460-64. Tempera on wood.
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

How could Christ redeem those from the Law of Moses? Only because he himself was under the Law. Circumcision. Yes, Christ knew even this as a child. For he was fully human yet without sin, and it was that to save mankind he must pass through man's world in order to, as Matthew says, "fulfill all righteousness."