A Fellow’s Work in Brazil

A Fellow’s Work in Brazil

I was gratified and encouraged to receive the email below from Fellow Lucas Fonseca Dos Santos, a resident of Sao Paolo in Brazil. Lucas is one of many Brazilians who are hungry to learn everything they can about liberal education, so that they can revive education in their own country. Lucas’s zeal led him to learn spoken Latin through the prestigious Vivarium program in Rome, to study for the Master’s in Classical Education under Senior Fellow Erik Ellis at the University of Dallas, and to study the Quadrivium with me as part of our Fellows in Formation program. 

Dear Dr. Seeley,

I wanted to share with you about a course I taught here in Brazil last week. Since last Thursday, I have been in a city in the interior of São Paulo (a 6-hour drive from the capital), teaching intensive teacher training to a group of teachers I have been working with for a long time.

I am sending this information, as well as a link to some photos and videos of the course, as a way of thanking you for everything you have done for me and for your generosity in allowing me to participate in the Institute. A large part of the curriculum studied was born from the Fellowship studies. They are enthusiastic about the project. They are also grateful to the Institute, because I try to transmit, even with my limitations, what I learn from you. I want to ensure that the fruits of these studies can spread throughout Brazil.

In fact, here in Brazil, there is a revival of interest in the liberal arts and classical education, but we have many things related to the Trivium, and almost nothing related to the Quadrivium.

I have tried, in my training for teachers, to bring the importance of the Quadrivium. Only very advanced teachers participated in this course – some pioneers in Classical Education and Homeschooling in Brazil – and with influential work in the dissemination of these studies.

I have set the goal that all teachers in this class should master Latin as well as possible, so that in the near future, classes can be taught in Latin – a good portion of the class already has a reasonable command.

The following were present:

– Gessica Hellman and Alexei Hellman, together with their 3 children.  They are pioneers in Homeschooling in Brazil, and among the pioneers are those who dedicated themselves to the production of Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric materials.  They are the creators of the website Vias Clássicas and the publishing house Vias Clássicas. In addition to their participation, their son Michael, 14 years old, is a regular student in the adult class, and I follow his studies and writings. He has a personal goal of gradually following the Thomas Aquinas College curriculum.

– Kemily Rodrigues, a very experienced teacher, who works with Children’s Literature and the importance of reading aloud to children. At the moment, she is delving deeper into John Senior and his vision of the Great Books and Children’s Literature as preparation for the Great Books. In addition, she is competing for a scholarship to take the Latin I course at Accademia Vivarium Novum (online). (https://www.instagram.com/profkemily/)

Ian Pompeu: he is preparing for a doctorate in Philosophy of Law, and is very dedicated to Aristotle, and is also my Latin student. He has worked as a pedagogical director at a Catholic school in the North of Brazil.

Felipe Rodrigues: a beginning but talented teacher who has dedicated himself to classical education in the city of Araçatuba, in the interior of São Paulo, and has planned events in this area. He found an investor, who gave us the place where the course was held free of charge.

A simple place, as you can see from the photos, but it was a place of great hope for the future of liberal Catholic education in Brazil.

In the curriculum, we had 3 subjects:

1) Advanced Seminars in Classical Literature

We had 3 large seminars, each lasting an average of 2h30min-3h, in which we discussed:

a) Iliad XVIII and Aeneid VIII (study of ekphrasis)

b) Odyssey XI and Aeneid VI (study of katabasis)

c) Commented reading of The Lusiads, book I (comparing the similes with Ovid and Virgil).

2) Introduction to the Quadrivium.

a) Republic, book VII. We had 3 discussions of almost 2h each on this book, dealing with the subjects of the Quadrivium. Unfortunately, Dr. Lehman’s article was not yet available – it was still pending revision – and I was unable to use it with the students.

b) Introduction to Arithmetic, book I, chaps. I-VI. We had an introductory discussion on this text, which I had learned about during our meetings, but which was completely unknown to the students – even the most advanced ones. We had a Socratic seminar of almost 3 hours.

c) Ptolemy, Almagest (excerpts from book I).

d) Euclid, Elements. I gave an introduction to the elements, and the students had to solve propositions I and II. We had two long classes on the subject.

e) We would still read Boethius (excerpts from De Musica) and Copernicus, but we didn’t have time for this.

3) Liberal Arts – Great Works.

In this course, we dedicated ourselves to the study and meditation on the work of Saint Bonaventure, De Reductione Artium ad Theologiam. We had two Socratic discussions on the work, one at the beginning and one at the end of the course, and it was a memorable and inspiring closing.

In Christ,

Lucas