Let Us Never Forget-- We Are Veritas!

Let Us Never Forget-- We Are Veritas!

    All organizations and institutions, with any history under their belts, must have institutional memory. Many institutions maintain their memory through documents, rituals, stories, and habits. Without institutional memory, any institution can experience the dreaded institutional drift from its intended purpose. Veritas Christian Academy has a mission, a purpose and an institutional memory. There are countless wonderful stories about the school’s origins and the myriad of ways God guided her through the entire time over the past twenty years.
Additionally, we must remember that Veritas Christian Academy belongs to a greater institutional history. Long before the first few folks met in Fletcher, North Carolina just more than twenty years ago, the foundation was laid for Classical Christian education. All of us that belong to this fine institution at Veritas owe a special gratitude to Alcuin of York.

    During the misnamed “Dark Ages” (500-1100 A.D.), the bright light of formal education was dimmed all over Europe. Pockets of learning were few and far between. It was during this time that we have what has been labeled the Carolingian Renaissance led by Alcuin under the patronage of Charlemagne. In part, due to the extraordinary (God blessed) toil of Alcuin and others, there was what has been noted as the first educational revival in the West, leading to a true cultural rebirth between 1050-1100 A.D.

    The arts and architecture were once again flourishing. All of this can be attributed to Classical Christian education of that day. Charlemagne wisely assembled the best and brightest scholars from various nations at Aachen. They were all ably led by the greatest intellectual, Alcuin of York (735-804). He was Headmaster of the Cathedral School of York. In 782, Alcuin came to Aachen and was made Master of the Palace School. Of greatest import is that Alcuin was consultant and tutor of the children of Charlemagne.

    What do we owe Alcuin in terms of recalling institutional memory? Alcuin established that all Cathedral Schools would teach the seven liberal arts. The seven liberal arts were at the very heart and soul of the curriculum.  As we all know at Veritas Christian Academy, the Seven Liberal Arts are the Trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric), as well as the Quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy).

    Woven into the fabric of the education of that time was the study of Roman masterpieces, early Church fathers, key religious creeds, and the Bible in Latin. They were challenged to be most proficient in reading, writing, and even speaking Latin, the lingua franca (common language) of learning.

    As we strive to be an excellent Classical Christian school in Fletcher, North Carolina for the glory and honor of God, let us never forget our heritage. Let us regularly remember both our twenty year history and our twelve-hundred year old roots in the work of Alcuin of York.