Father Reginald Foster

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Reginald Foster gives a lesson on the ablative absolute in Arpinum, Summer 2004

Father Reginald Foster is a Catholic priest and friar of the order of Discalced Carmelites. He is an American, having been born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, November 14, 1939 (1939-11-14) (age 68). He currently works in the "Latin Letters" section of the Secretariat of State in the Vatican. This section is the successor to the historical "Briefs to Princes." Father Foster is the Pope's principal latinist.

Foster's office at the Secretariat occupies the space of his predecessor's kitchen. Antonio Cardinal Bacci invited Foster up to his apartment in the '60s and asked him "What are you going to do with all this Latin?"

Father Foster is one of the great living experts in Latin literature, especially Cicero, and is an internationally recognised authority on the Latin language.

1 Biography
2 Latin class
3 Cult Status
4 References
5 External links
- 5.1 Newspaper articles

[edit] Biography

Since the age of 13, Foster has stated, he desired three things: 1) to be a monk, 2) to be a priest, and 3) to work with Latin. Foster grew up in a family of plumbers--father, brothers, and uncles are all plumbers. He went to junior seminary in Peterborough, New Hampshire. It was then that Reginald fell in love with Latin. He would sit in the library with Lewis and Short's Latin Dictionary and be fascinated by the entries.

Foster came to Rome in the early 1960s to study. He also taught German in those early days. He is fluent in Latin, German, and Italian.

His daily schedule is also quite unusual. Foster sleeps just four hours a night, from 10 PM to 2 AM. He always watches "Larry King Live" at 3 AM Rome time. Then he says mass for himself in the basement of the Teresianum, his Carmelite residence on the Janiculum Hill. After mass, he works on the many, many homework sheets he assigns for his classes--either for his summer students or those at the Gregorianum. Around 7-8 AM he walks down to the his office at the Vatican, where he works on papal documents until 12-1 PM. Fosters says that he takes a 10-minute nap at work. During the regular school year, he walks across town to the Gregorianum and teaches two classes a day--except one day where he only holds a conversational class. In the summer, Foster makes his way back up the Janiculum, by bus, and prepares to teach his summer school schedule.

Returning to Milwaukee every August, Foster is sure to order another one of his blue outfits of wash pants and jacket from JC Penney--"they have my measurements." He does not wear the traditional habit of a Discalced Carmelite friar because, he says, it intimidates people. The irony is that his outfit has a lot in common with that worn by plumbers.

[edit] Latin class

Father Foster's summer course "Aestiva Romae Latinitas," or Summer Latin in Rome, has been held every summer since 1985 at the Janiculum Hill in Rome. He does not charge anything, only requiring the student to possess basic knowledge of Latin, love of the language, and the will to learn more, making the course very popular.

He likes the students to have the Lewis and Short Latin Dictionary (which he strongly prefers to the more modern, but less complete Oxford Latin Dictionary) and the Gildersleeve and Lodge Latin Grammar in class at all times. Class is taught not from a textbook but from his "sheets," which are oversized mimeographs of Latin literature ranging from the earliest stuff there is, ca. 200 B.C., right up to the latest Papal document, written, mostly likely, by Foster himself.

Homework is what Foster terms "Ludi Domestici." These are again oversized mimeographs in Foster's typewritten characters--large and small capitals. Students are to complete these Ludi on their own using their dictionaries and notes from class.

Foster's summer courses consist of two "tracks"--the "iuniores" and the "seniores." Each day (six days a week, Sundays off), his classes meet, beginning around 2:00 p.m., in the basement theater of an elementary school run by nuns not far from where Foster lives on the Janiculum Hill. A typical class day consists of three 90-minute sections separated by short breaks: one session for the iuniores; a joint session for both levels; then a seniores section.

After class Foster also holds informal meetings "sub arboribus" (under the trees) in the early evening at his monastery, called the Teresianum, next to the very ancient San Pancrazio church, for more practice in Latin. Two nights a week are dedicated to conversational Latin, two to reading Latin texts by sight.

On Sundays during the summer, Foster leads excursions into such places as Pompeii, the Roman Forum, and the Castelli Romani. For these gatherings, Foster provides booklets full of Latin texts, maps, and pictures pertaining to that day's trip. Everyone takes public transportation, and these outings are almost invariably followed by dinner at a small Italian restaurant near each locale. Other outings are half-day affairs within Rome. Tours of the Roman Forum and Capitoline as well as an Ides of March tour are popular. Upon request, Foster will also lead "Inscription Reading" tours around Rome before his regularly scheduled tours.

Entry to the summer course is provisional upon completion of a written test, which Foster provides upon request, either via snail mail or fax. (But if you show up, show interest, and behave, he has never been known to turn anyone away.) He does not use email (at least as of August 2006) or computers in general. Interested students should plan to contact him well in advance prior (ideally no later than March for the upcoming year, though sooner would be better). These classes are generally populated by Latin teachers, professors, graduate students, and undergradate students from around the world, as well as a small number of priests, seminarians, and nuns.

The course is supported by donors around the world. Foster accepts donations only if they are "voluntary and anonymous."

[edit] Cult Status

Foster has developed quite a cult following among Latinists.

Since the early 1970s Foster has also taught during the regular academic year in the Gregorian University in Rome. These classes consist of five "experiences," broken down such that the first, third, and fourth experiences cover basic grammar and practice readings. The second experience is a conversational practice class, and is open to students of all levels. The fifth class is the most advanced class, and is taught at a higher level (much of it in Latin) than just about any other Latin class in the world. These classes at the Gregorian are populated almost exclusively by Catholic clergy, seminarians, nuns, etc., and by a very small number of laymen. The fifth experience, however, tends to attract mostly laymen.

His unique teaching style has made him the subject of some documentaries made by the BBC and a chapter in Alexander Stille's book "The Future of the Past." It is characterized by a gruff style that feigns anger, disappointment, and a sense of despair for the future of Latin studies. Yet most students see that the demeanor is merely part of his style, and consider his 'tough love' approach a refreshing contrast to the coddling of undergraduate American curricula.

On October 17, 2006, according to the Catholic News Agency, Foster announced to a group of about 100 students that he had been fired from his teaching position at the Gregorian University by the Society of Jesus, on grounds that too many students were taking his classes without paying tuition. As a result, on November 2, 2006, according to CNA, Foster founded the new "Academia Romae Latinitatis", a free Latin Academy for all interested English speakers interested in learning or brushing up on their Latin. The Academia, also known as the Istituto Ganganelli, is currently being housed near Piazza Venezia in Rome.