Humanities

Our study of literature is deeply integrated with history and the rest of the humanities. Students begin with the great epics of the classical world, encountering Homer and Virgil before moving into the works of Augustine, Beowulf, and Chaucer. As juniors, they delve into Dante, Cervantes, Shakespeare, and other great works of the medieval and early modern worlds. Their studies then move toward the modern period, where students encounter authors such as Austen, Dickens, Dostoevsky, Shelley, Chesterton, Undset, Lewis, and Orwell, alongside the great works of the American literary tradition.

Throughout all four years, students learn to read these works not simply for plot or historical significance, but for the enduring questions they raise about human nature, virtue, freedom, suffering, love, and the good life. Through Socratic discussion, students learn to listen carefully, ask good questions, and defend their ideas with evidence from the text. Through frequent writing, they learn to express those ideas with clarity, precision, and style.

At OLV, reading and writing go hand in hand. The art of the essay is not confined to English class, but reinforced across the curriculum. By graduation, students have spent four years learning to read great books attentively, think seriously about the ideas they contain, and communicate their own thoughts clearly and persuasively.

History forms the backbone of the curriculum at OLV, providing the chronological framework that unites our students’ study of literature, philosophy, theology, art, and science. Over four years, students encounter the great civilizations, ideas, conflicts, and individuals that have shaped the Western tradition and the modern world.

Students begin in the ancient world, studying the civilizations of Greece and Rome alongside the rise of Christianity and the early Church. From there, they enter the Middle Ages before exploring the Renaissance, Reformation, and Counter-Reformation. In their senior year, students turn to the modern world, examining the American and French Revolutions, industrialization, the rise of communism, and the political and cultural movements that have shaped contemporary society.

History at OLV is more than the memorization of names, dates, and events. Students are asked to consider why civilizations rise and fall, how ideas have consequences, and how individuals and societies have understood fundamental questions of justice, freedom, authority, faith, and the common good. They learn to examine primary sources, weigh evidence, recognize cause and effect, and understand historical events within their proper context.

Because our curriculum is integrated, students encounter each historical period from multiple perspectives. The world they study in history becomes the setting for the literature they read, the art and music they encounter, the philosophical and theological questions they consider, and even the scientific developments they examine. History thus provides students with something increasingly rare: a coherent understanding of where they have come from and a framework for understanding the world they have inherited.

Philosophy, literally “the love of wisdom,” teaches students to pursue the deepest questions of human existence with clarity and rigor. What is true? What is good? What does it mean to be human? How do we know what we know? By wrestling with questions such as these, students develop the habits of careful reasoning and systematic thought that serve them across every discipline.

At OLV, philosophy also helps unite the curriculum. Its study of logic connects naturally to mathematics; its questions about nature and causality illuminate the sciences; and its consideration of the human person, justice, beauty, and the good life deepens students’ understanding of literature, history, and the arts. Most importantly, philosophy prepares the mind to engage more deeply with theology, demonstrating the harmony between faith and reason.

Students encounter philosophy as a living intellectual tradition. They begin with its classical foundations, particularly Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, before examining the dramatic encounter between Greek philosophy and Christianity in the early Church. They then encounter the great synthesis of faith and reason achieved by thinkers such as St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, before turning to the profound changes introduced by modern philosophy.

Our goal is not simply for students to know what great philosophers have said. We want them to learn how to think philosophically: to define terms carefully, distinguish between ideas, identify assumptions, construct sound arguments, and pursue truth wherever it leads. Philosophy trains students not merely to have opinions, but to ask whether those opinions are true and to give reasons for what they believe.

Theology stands at the heart of an education at OLV. It is not simply one subject among many, but the discipline that helps students understand the ultimate context in which every other subject is studied. Literature, history, philosophy, science, and the arts all raise questions about truth, goodness, beauty, human nature, and the meaning of existence. Theology considers these questions in the light of divine revelation and the teaching of the Church.

The principal texts of our theology curriculum are Sacred Scripture and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Students learn to read the Bible attentively, understanding individual books within the larger story of salvation history and recognizing the unity of the Old and New Testaments. Their study of the Catechism provides a systematic understanding of what the Church believes, celebrates, lives, and prays.

Students also encounter the richness of the Catholic intellectual tradition firsthand. They read selections from the Church Fathers, the great councils of the Church, papal encyclicals, and the writings of saints and theologians across the centuries. In doing so, students discover that the Catholic faith is not merely a collection of doctrines to memorize, but a coherent vision of God, man, and the world that has been contemplated, articulated, defended, and lived for two thousand years.

Our goal is not simply that students know about the Catholic faith. We want them to understand it, to ask serious questions about it, and to see how its truths illuminate every dimension of human life. Ultimately, theology at OLV seeks to unite intellectual formation with spiritual formation, helping students grow not only in knowledge of God, but in wisdom, virtue, and love of Him.

The study of language at OLV begins with Latin, the language of ancient Rome, the Western intellectual tradition, and the Roman Catholic Church. All students study Latin during their freshman and sophomore years, developing habits of precision, careful analysis, and attention to language that strengthen their work across the curriculum. Because Latin lies at the root of much of the English language, its study also deepens students’ understanding of vocabulary, grammar, and the structure of language itself.

During these foundational years, students learn Latin using the Henle method, building the grammar and vocabulary necessary to encounter Latin authors in their original language. As their proficiency develops, students read and translate selections from authentic texts, including Caesar’s Gallic Wars and Saint Augustine’s Confessions. Translation requires more than substituting one word for another. Students must attend carefully to grammar, syntax, context, and meaning, cultivating the patience and intellectual discipline required to understand what an author is actually saying.

Upperclassmen may continue their study through Advanced Latin III and IV or begin Spanish I and II. In both languages, our goal extends beyond grammatical proficiency. Students encounter the history, literature, traditions, and culture of the peoples whose languages they study, coming to understand language as an expression of a particular people and way of seeing the world. All Latin students also participate in the National Latin Exam, on which OLV students have historically excelled.

Language study at OLV extends beyond the classroom. Upperclassmen have the opportunity to encounter the inheritance of the ancient and Catholic worlds firsthand through our pilgrimage to Rome. OLV also maintains an exchange option with Colegio San Jose, a classical Catholic school in Colombia, allowing students to experience Spanish language and culture through genuine friendship and cultural exchange.

Speech and Debate at OLV teaches students not merely to speak confidently, but to think clearly and communicate persuasively. During their sophomore year, students encounter the classical art of rhetoric, learning how effective arguments appeal to reason, character, and emotion through logos, ethos, and pathos. In doing so, they learn that persuasive speech depends not simply upon eloquence, but upon careful reasoning, sound evidence, and an understanding of one’s audience.

The course emphasizes practice. Students receive frequent opportunities to speak before their classmates, delivering both original compositions and historic speeches while developing poise, clarity, vocal expression, and command of an audience. Through repeated experience, students become increasingly comfortable standing before others and articulating their ideas with confidence and precision.

Our goal is larger than producing capable public speakers. We want students to become thoughtful communicators who can listen carefully, distinguish strong arguments from weak ones, disagree charitably, and speak truth with courage and prudence. In an age of increasingly shallow and polarized discourse, Speech and Debate helps form students capable of engaging difficult questions with intellectual seriousness, civility, and confidence.