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Salvete ad paginam de rebus divinis!

Tea Monkey, the Department Head, is a monkey of simple and pious faith, inter-denominational by nature and well versed in the gospel. For Latin 'week' he has chosen:

  • to discuss Matthew 3, when Jesus is baptized

  • to write about the Stations of the Cross


In collaboration with the Prof. Buddy he has also created games that will test your knowledge of each topic.

Matthew 3: Jesus meets John the Baptist


He loves the King James Bible, not as a literary or cultural masterpiece but as the Word of God, but he was curious for Prof Buddy, the Head of Latin, to introduce him to some of his favourite passages of Matthew’s gospel in Latin, from the Vulgate. He couldn’t pick his favourite passage, however, because he loves it all so much, even the genealogy, so the Professor suggested they start with John the Baptist, chapter 3.


The Prof. of course found the Latin easy, but was not expecting the emotional punch that the Gospel delivered. He found it interesting to compare St. Jerome’s Vulgate with the King James Version of 1611 and the Douay Rheims of 1899. The similarity between all three is striking, even though the KJV used Greek sources. He hopes to encourage Latinists and non-Latinists alike to read the gospel.



The Stations of the Cross

Being inter-denominational by nature, Tea Monkey has always marked the Stations of the Cross at Easter. For those who don’t know, the Stations of the Cross is a ritual performed by many Christians at Easter time to help them contemplate the suffering of Jesus at his crucifixion. It developed as an imitation of the Via Dolorosa performed by pilgrims at Jerusalem.


Each station refers to an event in the last day of Jesus’s life, and is portrayed both visually and in prayers and readings. For example, the first time that Jesus fell under the weight of the Cross, and when he was taken down from the Cross. The Prof. found the following text in Latin and English from preces-latinae.org.

Tea Monkey has found this picture of the Stations of the Cross in English. Minnie Meep has created a game where you can match a description in Latin and English with the particular station: Station of Cross game. Interestingly this one from Facebook has fifteen stations even though it says fourteen, because it includes Christ's rising from the tomb. Note Mary, as usual, wears blue and Jesus red. Tea monkey wanted to find a renaissance picture but was unable.




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