Description and Objectives

This class will focus on reading selections from Caesarius of Heisterbach’s Dialogue of Miracle and Visions. This author and his work, although rather unknown today, were immensely popular at the time of writing in the 13th century. Caesarius, a Cistercian monk, writes the dialogue as taking place between a Cistercian monk and a novice, as the monk tries to educate the young novice on the history of their Order. We hope to learn just as the novice did.

Textbooks

The instructor will supply a packet with all the selections.

Course Requirements

Students will be expected to read and translate for homework, and to give an account of that work the following class period. They will have three short quizzes per week. They will be expected to translate passages at sight, with assistance, as we wend our way through the text. They will have tests with both already seen, and entirely new, translation questions.

Successful Students

Successful students will be those who read Latin each and every day. They will ask questions about grammar and syntax when they are puzzled. They will devote time to their homework readings and to vocabulary study. They will pay attention to all class readings, even those translated by other classmates.