Less well known, I think, is that he was a deeply religious man and a fearsome ascetic. It is not a coincidence that he joined the Discalced Carmelites -- among the more mystical, contemplative, and historically, among the more severely austere of the Catholic mendicant religious orders (it was founded by Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross).
He almost never wore the traditional habit of the Carmelites (or even "the blacks" of a priest), because he felt clerical garb no longer represented what it originally was (the dress of the poor). He owned almost nothing, gave anything given to him to the poor (except books!), dressed like a plumber, and slept on the floor. I read somewhere that his office had a dictionary, a telephone, and not much else.
He was so famous for being "the Pope's Latinist." I have often wondered if anyone ever asked him about his faith or the pursuit of holiness. Because I sincerely think he took these matters just as seriously, and probably more seriously than Latin.
SRamsay,
I think I met you once, a long time ago, at my house, for a book discussion. Nice to see you here.
I first learned of Fr. Reggie while looking for something on the Marquette theology webpages, so I'm ever grateful to whoever posted his info there.
I was impressed with how he bore with good humor the inability of his order to care for him when his health declined. That's a degree of holiness that I don't find easy to enact. I'm sure there was more than this, but not knowing him well, this is what I saw in brief encounters.
I got to study with Foster at his very last Aestiva Latinitas Romae session, in 2008. (After his illness and retirement, he continued teaching in Wisconsin until last year.) He was a really amazing personality and so humble about probably knowing more Latin than any person in the twentieth century, as well as having had an inside view of decades of world events by writing several different popes' official reactions to them.
He also wrote, among other things, the Vatican ATM UI translation and the Vatican heliport dedicatory plaque.
I also studied with him at ALR but much earlier than that, after four years of Latin in high school and two years as an undergrad. Although he knew I was a Protestant, he was always gracious to me and I learned so much from him. He was famous for his advocacy of Gildersleeve's Latin Grammar and the Lewis & Short Latin Dictionary. He would accept no substitutes.
I met Fr. Foster as a volunteer at the senior facility he resided in. Studied Latin with him. Ate olives and drank wine in his room. Was able to see him a few weeks ago. We planned on watching “Barbarians” on Netflix when this pandemic business was over. Talked about cross country train trips. He asked for a hug when I left. Told him I couldn’t get that close. Last thing we said to each other: “love you”. I have no words and I have so many words.
Lux perpetua luceat ei. I studied with Reggie during several of the summer sessions in Rome starting in 1998, and dedicated my edition+translation of a 16th-century treatise to him. He really transformed Latin into a living language for those lucky enough to study with him, and his courses leveled up one's fluency like nothing I've ever seen at university or elsewhere. What a force of nature. He used to say that if he became pope (ha!) He would take the name Leo, and would roar like a lion against the docile corrupters he encountered every day in the Vatican. I'm glad and honestly a little surprised he lived this long, because in those days wandering around Rome 20 years ago, he was really not taking care of his health at all. Used to claim he slept 2 hours a night, sitting in his cell in the dark watching tv and eating potato chips in his underwear into the wee hours of the morning. The world will never see another one like him.
Supposedly he got in trouble with the Church after appearing in the Bill Maher documentary Religulous. I looked up the video clip and thought it was refreshing how few fucks he seemed to give https://youtu.be/iTV-VgrbnZU
( If you know of similar books for other languages, please let me know! I didn't even have any interest in learning Classical Chinese, but was drawn in by Barnes's book more or less immediately... ).
As much as language-learning is a lot about hard work, some people seem to be exceptionally good at teaching, and slaving away struggling to learn a language under a dreary teacher is the worst.
Language teaching seems to have its own particular flavour of impact on the students and their relationship to their teachers? I guess it's far more common that their teaching will have a gigantic impact on someone's life, if they are going to be using the language every day, than many other things that people learn. Less likely of Latin, but it still seems that people can be nonetheless grateful to have a gifted teacher even there!
Reggie Foster did have a textbook come out before his death (unlike Ørberg's, which you mention, it is written in English rather than Latin), Ossa Latinitatis Sola.
He also had a sequel (about reading Cicero) in press which is due out in January. It's called Ossium Carnes Multae. Daniel McCarthy, the editor, has been collecting materials by Foster with the aim of bringing out a five-part series:
> “You do not need to be mentally excellent to know Latin,” he once said. “Prostitutes, beggars and pimps in Rome spoke Latin, so there must be some hope for us.”
I took Latin in High School. I learned more about English grammar in my Latin class than I ever learned in English class.
Please stop posting unsubstantive and/or flamebait comments to HN. You've unfortunately been doing it repeatedly, and we ban that sort of account. We're trying for something different here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
From previous comments I assume you're from the UK. And I also suspect you've grown up with anti-Catholic bigotry and have assumed that this is normal.
I do understand this. My father would talk about Protestants as if was synonymous with Scum. It wasn't till my teenage years that I realized the problem with that.
You need to get rid of that shallow thinking and understand that decent and intelligent people can disagree with your personal beliefs. It will make you a better person.
[+] [-] sramsay|5 years ago|reply
Less well known, I think, is that he was a deeply religious man and a fearsome ascetic. It is not a coincidence that he joined the Discalced Carmelites -- among the more mystical, contemplative, and historically, among the more severely austere of the Catholic mendicant religious orders (it was founded by Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross).
He almost never wore the traditional habit of the Carmelites (or even "the blacks" of a priest), because he felt clerical garb no longer represented what it originally was (the dress of the poor). He owned almost nothing, gave anything given to him to the poor (except books!), dressed like a plumber, and slept on the floor. I read somewhere that his office had a dictionary, a telephone, and not much else.
He was so famous for being "the Pope's Latinist." I have often wondered if anyone ever asked him about his faith or the pursuit of holiness. Because I sincerely think he took these matters just as seriously, and probably more seriously than Latin.
[+] [-] jtpublic|5 years ago|reply
I was impressed with how he bore with good humor the inability of his order to care for him when his health declined. That's a degree of holiness that I don't find easy to enact. I'm sure there was more than this, but not knowing him well, this is what I saw in brief encounters.
[+] [-] lqet|5 years ago|reply
The Swiss Guards at the Vatican called him "the tankward".
[+] [-] schoen|5 years ago|reply
He also wrote, among other things, the Vatican ATM UI translation and the Vatican heliport dedicatory plaque.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/thrillho/2360283395 (literally 'please insert card in order to find out what to do')
https://orbiscatholicus.blogspot.com/2008/06/from-vatican-ci...
His death reminds me that he taught us to sing the "In Paradisum" Gregorian chant, which he considered very beautiful. Have a listen in his memory!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7F-N-Yd8dE
[+] [-] wyclif|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mamab|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jmeister|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tdumitrescu|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] igonvalue|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Torwald|5 years ago|reply
<<Sean Wu: "This man trolled bill Maher when he bill Maher was trying to troll him.">>
[+] [-] jan_Inkepa|5 years ago|reply
( If you know of similar books for other languages, please let me know! I didn't even have any interest in learning Classical Chinese, but was drawn in by Barnes's book more or less immediately... ).
As much as language-learning is a lot about hard work, some people seem to be exceptionally good at teaching, and slaving away struggling to learn a language under a dreary teacher is the worst.
Language teaching seems to have its own particular flavour of impact on the students and their relationship to their teachers? I guess it's far more common that their teaching will have a gigantic impact on someone's life, if they are going to be using the language every day, than many other things that people learn. Less likely of Latin, but it still seems that people can be nonetheless grateful to have a gifted teacher even there!
[+] [-] schoen|5 years ago|reply
https://thelatinlanguage.org/ossa/
He also had a sequel (about reading Cicero) in press which is due out in January. It's called Ossium Carnes Multae. Daniel McCarthy, the editor, has been collecting materials by Foster with the aim of bringing out a five-part series:
https://thelatinlanguage.org/latinitatis-corpus/
I'm not sure whether volumes III through V are ever going to appear. :-(
[+] [-] ignoranceprior|5 years ago|reply
https://blog.nina.coffee/2018/08/27/all_nature_method_books....
[+] [-] throw0101a|5 years ago|reply
* https://www.cbsnews.com/news/meet-the-priest-determined-to-k...
[+] [-] gregfjohnson|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] blhack|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] scop|5 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] dang|5 years ago|reply
I seem to recall others—anyone?
[+] [-] Mlller|5 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] mikece|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 8bitsrule|5 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] jedberg|5 years ago|reply
I took Latin in High School. I learned more about English grammar in my Latin class than I ever learned in English class.
[+] [-] danielam|5 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] HarryHirsch|5 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] phaemon|5 years ago|reply
I do understand this. My father would talk about Protestants as if was synonymous with Scum. It wasn't till my teenage years that I realized the problem with that.
You need to get rid of that shallow thinking and understand that decent and intelligent people can disagree with your personal beliefs. It will make you a better person.
[+] [-] gerry44|5 years ago|reply
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