Father Reginald Foster has died
Foster's brilliance and wit are legendary.
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.
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.
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!
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
I find it interesting reading about legendary language teachers. https://www.amazon.de/Chinese-Through-Poetry-introduction-tr... for Classical Chinese and https://www.amazon.com/Familia-Romana-Lingua-Latina-Book-ebo... for Latin are by amazing language teachers who refined their material over decades and finally published wonderful books that contain so much wisdom and good taste.
( 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!
It fills me with joy the HN is sufficiently eclectic to have an article such as this. Thank you, OP!
A former student recounts some good memories on his blog: https://wdtprs.com/2020/12/r-i-p-fr-reginald-foster-ocd/ ...comments have some good ones as well.
Very sad to hear. I’d always hoped to have the time to take Latin with him but never did. Requiescat in pace.
A related thread from 2015: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8981557
I seem to recall others—anyone?
Requiem aeternam...
Of course no machine could compare, but this little humble-looking site does pretty well (with what few Latin phrases I can recall). https://www.translatero.com/latin-english/translate
Ave atque vale. https://www.npr.org/2020/12/28/950886281/reginald-foster-wor...
> “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.
Requiescat in pace.
Sit eo terra levis.
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I can't help but admire that devotion and concern, but also be bothered that it was in service of such a questionable religion.
How many kids did this priest abuse?
HN shouldn't protect a pedo member of a cult.
Apologies in advance, I am not familiar with that person. Why is his death relevant to a tech-focused site like HN?
He touched my private parts and made me read a fairytale book.
Oh look this site will post about some worthless worshipping cult member.
He liked to where a gown but none of his cult members thought anything of it.