Dear Student, 

On behalf of the Department of English Language and Literature, I congratulate you on choosing Christendom College in your pursuit of an authentically Catholic liberal arts education. Within Christendom's core curriculum is a two-year study of the literature of Western Civilization. Our adventure begins with the first great works of Western Literature, Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, and continues through your sophomore year with literary masterworks of Christian antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the modem world.

I am sure you are eager to undertake the spiritual, intellectual, and aesthetic journey in pursuit of the knowledge of the true, the good, and the beautiful which is the goal of our literary study here at Christendom College. Thus, we ask you to begin with the short address to young Christians given by a Doctor of the Church, St. Basil the Great (b. 330, d. 379). As you will see, the address examines the subject of reading classical (pagan) literature as a prelude to reading Christian, and specifically Catholic, works. Please read the address this summer so that you can begin to consider why such literature is part of the curriculum at Christendom. Then be sure to print it out, review it before classes start, and bring it to your first session of English 101: Literature of Western Civilization I. Here is the link to download and print the reading.

Before arriving at Christendom, you may also wish to get a head start by reading Homer's Iliad, about "the wrath of Achilles," and perhaps even his Odyssey, about the "man skilled in all ways of contending." In these great books, the virtues of men and women are put to the supreme test. The literature classes at Christendom all use the same assigned editions: Richmond Lattimore's translation of the Iliad and Robert Fitzgerald's translation of the Odyssey.

I hope you will enjoy reading St. Basil's address this summer and- if you choose to do so-Homer's epics. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at lmarciano@christendom.edu.

Yours in Christ Our King,