Reginald Thomas Foster

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Reason: Addendum to the forgotten text module, copy from the LD: He lived ascetically, has a single publication (as co-editor), worked as a secretary and wears clothes by Sears. So what? The relevance is not shown. 194.62.169.86 07:29, 28 Dec 2020 (CET) - Thenardier ( discussion ) 13:42, 28 Dec 2020 (CET)
Reginald Foster in Arpino .

Reginald Thomas Foster OCD (born November 14, 1939 in Milwaukee ; † December 25, 2020 there ) was an American Latinist . He is considered to be one of the world's leading experts on this language.

Life

Foster grew up in a family of plumbers ; his father, brothers and uncles were plumbers. He entered the seminary at the age of 13. In 1962 Foster went to Rome to study. In 1970, on the recommendation of Carlo Egger and despite the objections of the General Procurator of his Order of the Discalced Carmelites, he succeeded Amleto Tondini in the Office for Latin Letters. He worked there for forty years and returned to Milwaukee after his retirement in 2009. His duties as papal Latin secretary included both the translation of important texts of the papal teaching office and the naming of street signs in the Vatican.

In addition to his full-time work as the Pope's secretary, Foster also worked as a priest, taught students and had a weekly program on Vatican Radio , The Latin Lover . From 1977 he taught ten Latin courses per year at the Pontificia Università Gregoriana . In 1985, at the request of students, he added an eight-week summer school. The summer school was free. The university fired him in 2004 for allowing too many students to take classes there without paying. As a result, Foster founded his own free Academia Romae Latinitatis , also known as Istituto Ganganelli , in November 2006 , which from 2007 was housed in Rome's Piazza Venezia.

In 2008, Foster collapsed while in class and was hospitalized. He was flown back to the USA, where he received further treatment in a nursing home in Greenfield . He continued to give free Latin classes at the University of Milwaukee. From March 2017 he taught in his nursing home.

Foster lived ascetic in Rome, slept on the floor under a thin blanket and gave away all gifts except books. Instead of wearing the official attire that he believed no longer matched poor people's clothing, he donned blue Sears pants and shirts with plain black sneakers and a blue polyester windbreaker in the cold weather. The Swiss guardsmen called him il benzinaio (the gas station attendant ) and there were complaints about his appearance.

Fonts (selection)

  • with Daniel Patricius McCarthy: Ossa Latinitatis sola ad mentem Reginaldi rationemque. The mere bones of Latin according to the thought and system of Reginald . Washington, DC 2016, ISBN 978-0-8132-2832-7 .

literature

  • as editors Michael Fontaine, Charles J. McNamara and William Michael Short: Quasi labor intus. Ambiguity in Latin literature. Papers in honor of Reginald Thomas Foster, OCD . Brooklyn 2018, ISBN 1-73247-501-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Katie Walker: RIP Father Reginald Foster, 81, the Pope's Latin teacher. In: theoldie.co.uk. December 25, 2020, accessed December 27, 2020 .
  2. ^ A b Reginald Foster, Vatican Latinist Who Tweeted in the Language, Dies at 81 nytimes.com
  3. ↑ a b Long-time Latinist of the Popes Reginald Foster dies A life for a living dead language domradio.de
personal data
SURNAME Foster, Reginald Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Foster, Reginald
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American Latinist
DATE OF BIRTH November 14, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Milwaukee
DATE OF DEATH December 25, 2020
Place of death Milwaukee