A GRATEFUL READER writes:

A classical education is of enduring value. Here is an advertisement that I just received from Memoria Press:

How knowing Latin helped one reporter get the scoop of the century

You never know when a classical education will come in handy. Giovanna Chirri, the Vatican reporter for ANSA, the leading news wire service in Italy, was covering a regularly scheduled speech by Pope Benedict on Monday, when he suddenly began speaking in Latin. She immediately realized what he was saying.

She called her editor, who couldn’t believe the Pope would announce his abdication almost impromptu, in what most people think is a dead language. After Chirri assured her editor of her competence in Latin, the story was sent out to the world.

Thanks to her knowledge

of Latin, Chirri scooped the rest of the press corps on one of the biggest stories since 1415 A.D.  Read more about it here.

Just think of all the embarrassment those other reporters who got scooped could have avoided if they had only taken First Form Latin. In fact, we are sitting by the phone right now just waiting for Italian journalists to call us to make sure their children don’t suffer the same ignominious fate. Order your copy of First Form now.

Latin. Don’t leave home without it.

—— Comments —–

Don Vincenzo writes:

It is of some interest to me that the young reporter was Italian, and in Italy the “classical” education still requires submission to Latin.

One is reminded of the words of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V:

I speak Latin to God;
Italian to men;
French to women, and
German…to my horse.

Now if we could convince the Vatican hierarchy that Latin – not the vernacular – is the language of the Church, well that would be an accomplishment!

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