Vita Latina

Vita Latina
Congrès international pour le latin vivant
DisciplineLatin as an active spoken and written language
Publication details
Publisher
History1956–1975
FrequencyIrregular

Vita Latina ("Latin life") refers to a series of five international academic conferences dedicated to the modern use of spoken and written Latin, held in France from 1956 to 1975.

History

Following World War II, European intellectuals and Latin scholars and enthusiasts wanted to unify the continent and revive the use of Latin. In 1952, Professor Jean Capelle, former dean of the University of Nancy, published an influential article titled Le latin ou Babel ("Latin or Babel"), proposing Latin as a modern international spoken language. This article catalyzed a series of five international conferences, each held in France: Congrès international pour le Latin vivant ("International Congress for Living Latin")[1]: 174–181 [2][3]

Vita Latina Conferences
Year Title Location Organizer Attendees
1956 Premier Congrès international pour le latin vivant[4][5][1][6] Avignon, France Jean Capelle & Édouard Théodore-Aubanel[1] Approx. 200–250 (from 22 nations)[7][1]: 174 
1959 Deuxième Congrès international pour le latin vivant[7][8] Lyon (Villeurbanne), France Jean Capelle[1]: 187–188  158 participants from 19 countries[1]: 224 
1963 Troisième Congrès international pour le latin vivant[9] Strasbourg, France Pierre Grimal[1]: 187–188  254 to 400 participants from at least 22 countries[1]: 224 
1969 Quatrième Congrès international pour le latin vivant[10] Avignon, France Pierre Grimal 235 from 19 countries[1]: 189 
1975 Cinquième Congrès international pour le latin vivant[7][11] Pau, France Pierre Grimal 89, fewer attendees from outside France[1]: 189 

Influence

Other groups and conferences

The 1963 Vita Latina conference in Avignon formally proposed that the next conference should be held in Rome. A direct response to this was a 1966 conference in Rome organized by Pietro Romanelli. Even though the Rome conference was organized independently, most attendees of the 1963 conference in Avignon also attended the Rome conference in 1966.[1]: 193 

The Rome conference eventually led to the foundation of a new association likewise based in Rome, the Academia Latinitati Fovendae (ALF). It can be said that the Living Latin movement split into two separate efforts. As scholar Karolis M. Lyvens describes it, "the [1966] congress marks a meeting point where the official movement of Living Latin branched in two."[1]: 193 

Association Vita Latina

Association Vita Latina
Formation1957
FoundersJean Capelle and Édouard Théodore-Aubanel[1]: 174 
Founded atAvignon, France[1]
TypeAcademic association
HeadquartersMontpellier, France
Region served
International
MembersClassicists, Neo-Latin scholars

The Vita Latina association was founded in 1957 by Édouard Théodore-Aubanel and Jean Capelle, after the Avignon Vita Latina Congress in September 1956, establishing its original focus on the "Living Latin" movement.[1]: 174 

The world-renowned French latinist and historian Pierre Grimal served as President of the association from the 1962 until his resignation in 1989. After that, the association's journal transitioned from being written fully in Latin to a broader classical studies format, with articles in French, English and other languages.[1]: 187–190 

Following this transition, Paul Marius Martin, Emeritus Professor of Latin at UPVM, took over the academic and organizational steering of Association Vita Latina. He served as President until 2009 and remains its Président d'honneur ("Honorary President").[12]

Today, the association's mission is to promote Latin culture and the teaching of Latin the language.[13]

Vita Latina Journal

Vita Latina [Journal]
DisciplineClassics, Latin literature, Philology
LanguageEnglish, French, German, Italian, Latin and Spanish[14]
Edited byUniversity of Montpellier Paul Valéry (UPVM)
Publication details
HistorySince 1957
Publisher
CERCAM[13][15] (Centre d’étude et de recherche sur les civilisations antiques de la Méditerranée) (France)
Frequencyannual
Delayed
Standard abbreviations
ISO 4Vita Lat.
Indexing
ISSN0042-7306
Links

The Vita Latina journal was launched in 1957, the same year as the association of the same name.[13]

From 1957 through 1994, the journal was written entirely in Latin. Alongside academic articles, it published original Latin poems, short stories, and Latin essays addressing modern news and current events.[13]

Starting in 1994, the journal moved its headquarters from Avignon to the University of Montpellier Paul Valéry, associating with the CERCAM research center. The journal stopped publishing creative writing and became an annual peer-reviewed academic journal, including articles covering Classical antiquity to the Renaissance. Since 1994, the journal has included articles in many languages besides Latin (French, English, etc.).[13][15]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Lyvens, Karolis M. (2023). Living Latin (1880 – c. 2000): ideology and identity (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of Manchester.
  2. ↑ Capelle, Jean (1952-10-23). "Le latin ou Babel" [Latin or Babel]. L'Éducation nationale: Organe hebdomadaire de l'enseignement public (in French) (26): 7–8.
  3. ↑ Capelle, Jean; Quigley, Thomas H. (1953). "Latin or Babel". The Classical Journal. 49 (1): 37–40.
  4. ↑ Préaux, Jean (1957). "Premier congrès international pour le latin vivant: Avignon 3–6 septembre 1956". Latomus. 16 (3): 509–511.
  5. ↑ Minkova, Milena (2014). "Conversational Latin: 1650 to the Present". In Ford, Philip; Bloemendal, Jan; Fantazzi, Charles (eds.). Brill's Encyclopaedia of the Neo-Latin World. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-26572-1.
  6. ↑ Actes du premier Congrès international pour le latin vivant, Avignon, 3-6 septembre 1956. Avignon: Édouard Aubanel. 1956.
  7. 1 2 3 Maadla, Ju. J. (1984). "О современных попытках «оживления» латыни как языка международного общения" [On the Modern Attempts to 'Revive' Latin as Language of International Communication]. Interlinguistica Tartuensis (in Russian). 3. University of Tartu: 58–72.
  8. ↑ Actes du deuxième Congrès international pour le latin vivant, Lyon-Villeurbanne, 8-10 septembre 1959. Avignon: Édouard Aubanel. 1960.
  9. ↑ Actes du troisième Congrès International pour le Latin vivant. Strasbourg. Du 2 au 4 septembre 1963. Avignon: Édouard Aubanel. 1964.
  10. ↑ Actes du quatrième Congrès International pour le Latin vivant. Avignon, du 1 au 3 Avril 1969. Avignon: Édouard Aubanel. 1970.
  11. ↑ Actes du cinquième Congrès international pour le latin vivant, Pau, 1-5 avril 1975. Avignon: Édouard Aubanel. 1976.
  12. ↑ "Présentation de l'Association et de la Revue Vita Latina" [Presentation of the Vita Latina Association and Journal]. OpenEdition Journals (in French). Association Vita Latina / Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3. Retrieved 2026-07-06.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 "Vita Latina". journals.openedition.org. OpenEdition Journals. Retrieved 2026-07-05.
  14. ↑ "Vita Latina". openedition.org. Retrieved 2026-07-04.
  15. 1 2 "Vita Latina". Ent'revues, Le journal des revues culturelles (in French). 2003-02-24. Retrieved 2026-07-05.
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