Course: 12th Grade Literature - Standard
Course description:
NOTE: As with all of our literature courses, the books listed here are just a suggested set. When enrolling your student in this course, you are free to add, delete, or substitute for any of the items below from our large selection of literature. We want to make it easy for you to have your student read exactly what you feel is best. Parents are the best judges and primary educators.
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This course treats the student to several complete works of literature, as well as a set of beautiful small samples.
First, he reads part of an easier but important work by St. Thomas Aquinas himself, On Kingship. In it, the Angelic Doctor, developing and applying the solid philosophy of Aristotle's Politics, shows the true nature of civil society, the social nature of man, that government is a great good and is natural, the duties of any good ruler, the difference between tyrannical and valid forms of government, and the solemn duty of citizens to obey and not rebel, even against of evil rulers.
Next up is the classic and edifying historical novel The Betrothed, which has been called by some the most famous Italian novel. Thoroughly Catholic and edifying, we see a young couple struggling to be married against villainy, cowardice, the plague, invading armies and civil strife, and more.
The Excerpts in Great Literature is a real treat, with short, annotated sections from St. Augustine, St. Thomas, Aristotle, Shakespeare, Plato, and more!
Finally, the student reads A Heart for Europe, the heart-rending story of an amazingly noble Catholic couple - the Emperor Charles and Empress Zita of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Truly concerned for the welfare of their people, these rulers fought in vain to keep their Catholic empire together against all odds and out of World War I. The book ends with England and the United States carving up their empire into small countries and banishing this magnificent couple to a remote island. There, the noble Charles dies of pneumonia, and his penniless widow Zita must somehow care for the many children. These two by living example show not only heroic virtue, but also how good rulers implement the principles and guidelines laid down in St. Thomas's On Kingship.
This is a modular course. Please click on any of the links below to see details for the subcourses.
Course fee:
$ 152