A free* course of Ecclesiastical Latin

*Free because this is based off Collins’s Primer. You can purchase it here. There is also an Answer Key, but using what is given here you won’t need that unless you get to the later chapters, where the free guides/resources listed below run out.

I will also key to two other books. English Grammar for Students of Latin and Comprehensive Guide to Wheelock’s Latin. Those are not written with Ecclesiastical Latin in mind, but Collins is a very dense textbook. If you are still confused about what is going on, and the resources given here aren’t enough, either or both should clear it up. They can also be good for reinforcing grammar points and giving a bit of alternative practice. But they’re optional. If you have never learned an inflected language before, or if your English classes were very light on teaching grammar, I would suggest getting either or both of these books.

For each Unit I link a video with spoken ecclesiastical Latin for the purpose of active speaking practice. At first, not all the grammar may be understood, but try to imitate the speaker to get a natural feel for the language.

Latin means memorization. I am including a graded reader in this lesson outline to provide some immersion to the language since Collins doesn’t provide “Readings” until Unit 21, but things will go much easier if you spend the early weeks of your Latin learning memorizing the grammatical forms and basic vocabulary. I suggest following one or more of the drill courses on Memrise for this purpose. As you do each Unit, practice the corresponding section in the Memrise course. Memrise has built in review, so make sure you do those too. There are also courses that drill grammar, and I will link those for each Unit. To use Memrise you must make an account and then add the course via your desktop. After adding the course, you can use it via your desktop or find it on their App.

At first, the readings from the Primer will throw a lot of stuff you’ll learn later at you. Just concentrate on recognizing and understanding the vocubulary and grammar points that you already know. The Primer begins with a simplified text of Genesis chapter 1. Later in the course, the complete text of Genesis will be covered, so don’t worry about missing things at the beginning.

In addition to the practice of the Primer, I am also linking to PDFs of the Vulgate Latin Course to serve as review. So the topic of the section listed for each Unit will not be for that Unit, but a previous one. This is to build in additional review practice. Like in Collins, you should parse each word in the Delectus exercise. Ideally, you will already know, and be able to remember, the grammar being asked. You can use the Dodd’s grammar outline to review. And then do the exercises translating into Latin.

There are sometimes also other good online resources for various Units. I will add those to the Units pages. If they’re helpful, great, if not you can probably skip them. I will also be adding additional exercises. Like with the Primer, these will be slightly outside the system of Collins. My suggestion for these are to test yourself with a different text, and get used to reading something outside the “controlled” vocabulary of the textbook. It will also assist in reviewing previous concepts, and exposing you to new content.

Main resources:

A Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin

Latin Class from the Church of Saint Agnes

Annunciation Ecclesiastical Latin Class

Latin primer : a first book of Latin for boys and girls

Dodd’s Vulgate Latin Course

  1. Grammar
  2. Delctus
  3. Exercises

Memrise (choose one or more):

  1. A Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin (with Macrons!)
  2. A Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin
  3. A Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin
  4. Latin Grammar
  5. Latin Grammar (declesions and conjugations)

Suggested Method:

  1. Listen to the lesson from Church of Saint Agnes while following along with the book.
  2. Begin drilling the vocabulary and grammar with Memrise.
  3. Follow the corresponding lessons from Annunciation to review that chapter. These lessons move more slowly – if you’re completely new to Latin I suggest taking your time with them. If you are just revising or reviewing, you can skip though these.
  4. Complete the Unit exercises along with the Annunciation videos.
  5. Do the Speaking exercise and any of the bonus videos for further review or anything you have further questions about.
  6. Review the exercises with the Church of Saint Agnes.
  7. Complete the lesson from Latin Primer.
  8. Do the Vulgate Latin Course exercises.

As is always the case, as you move past the fundamentals, free resources start to dry up. For the later Units in Collins’s book, I will start linking different resources. Some of these, by necessity, may be in classical pronunciation or use classical literature.

Program for each Unit:

Unit 1

Unit 2

Unit 3

Unit 4

Unit 5

Unit 6

Unit 7

Unit 8

Unit 9

Unit 10

Unit 11

Unit 12

Unit 13

Unit 14

Unit 15

Unit 16

Unit 17

Unit 18

Unit 19

Unit 20

Unit 21

Unit 22

Unit 23

Unit 24

Unit 25

Unit 26

Unit 27

Unit 28

Unit 29

Unit 30

Unit 31

Unit 32

Unit 33

Unit 34

Unit 35

Further