Camillus Programme
The Camillus Programme is an interactive course made to turn a follower of the Cultus Deorum Romanorum into a fully fledged priest or priestly assistant. Currently the course is tutored by Quintus Aelius Volusus.
The Cultus Deorum Romanorum is a religion is filled with foreign and alien concepts to people who follow the Abrahamic religions, not only limited to the worship of multiple deities but to the most underlying concepts that many consider to be fundamental to a religion. This program covers many of these concepts shattering what many consider to be core to religion and rebuilding new fundamentals and teaching one to approach worship differently.
People who join the Camillus Programme are provided with the most fundamental materials, mostly those that deal with knowledge and information with sourced research and no hypotheses unless stated otherwise in the document. All required equipment is stated within the document and alternatives are listed in the worst case.
This course is carried out at your own pace but people can be removed for lack of progression.
Who this course is for
This course is for practitioners and followers of the Cultus Deorum Romanorum who wish to become a sacerdos or other religious officials (excluding augurēs). This course requires a lot of self-determination and a lot of motivation. This course is for complete beginners.
A cursory understanding of Latin is recommended but by no means required.
This will require a large amount of reading and homework will be issued weekly. These assignments do not take long, at most an hour.
By the end of the course you will be trained enough to be a sacerdos, however you can continue learning if you feel the need.
Supporting Materials
Lessons are handed to students via pdf file format. These lessons are usually 2 sides of A4 paper and cover concepts fundamental to the worship of Roman gods and daily life as a practitioner. This means they will not only be trained to be a priest but be some of the best religious practitioners, bringing their daily life closer to the Roman gods.
At the start of the course you will be given a 200 page handbook covering the most fundamental concepts of the Religion and how to carry out a ritual. This also covers more advanced concepts and builds up assuming no prior knowledge. At the end of the booklet is an index detailing all Roman divinities that have been researched by members of the Imperivm Romanvm up to the point of print of the handbook. This handbook is periodically updated and is the responsibility of the student or priest to be sure to update the handbook or submit any information as required to the advancement of the religion and their future apprentices and colleagues.
This handbook is not to be distributed to anyone outside the Imperivm Romanvm in its entirety. The handbook can however be used as a source of discussion, argument and debate. The handbook can be cited as a source and quotes can be taken from the handbook that do not exceed the length of one section.
Supplementing your study
The handbook and lessons should be enough for one to become a sacerdos. However it is always preferable for one to adopt external studies that come from reputable sources. These sources can be discussed with any of the sacerdotes or current camilli.
It is mandatory that you should conduct practical studies into the religion as well in the form of rituals.
Programme of Study
| Course Lesson | Planned date of Lesson | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| March | ||
| Introductory Lesson | Kal. Martiis | No actual lesson, introductions and receiving of Camillus Curriculum handbook. Discussion on upcoming lessons. |
| Your First Ritual | a.d. VIII Id. Martias | First weekly ritual |
| Review of First Ritual | a.d. VII Id. Martias | Going over recording/documentation of first weekly ritual. |
| Second Ritual | Id. Martiis | Second weekly ritual |
| Review of Second Ritual | a.d. XVII Kal. Apriles | Going over recording/documentation of second weekly ritual. |
| Third Ritual | a.d. XI Kal. Apriles | Third weekly ritual. |
| Review of Third Ritual | a.d. X Kal. Apriles | Going over recording/documentation of third weekly ritual. |
| Fourth Ritual | a.d. IV Kal. Apriles | Fourth weekly ritual. |
| Review of Fourth Ritual | a.d. III Kal. Apriles | Going over recording/documentation of Fourth weekly ritual, this is the end of the weekly ritual period, monthly rituals now start. |
| April | ||
| First Monthly Ritual | Kal. Aprilibus | First Monthly ritual. |
| Lesson on Ritual Conduct | Non. Aprilibus | First proper lesson. Review of first monthly ritual comes back. |
| Lesson on Superstitio | pr. Id. Apriles | |
| Lesson on Altars | a.d. XIII Kal. Maias | |
| Lesson on Numa Tradition | a.d. VI Kal. Maias | |
| May | ||
| Second Monthly Ritual | Kal. Maiis | |
| Lesson on the Stucture of the Cultus Deorum Romanorum | a.d. V Non. Maias | Monthly Ritual feedback will be returned |
| Lesson on prayer writing | a.d. VI Id. Maias | This lesson will involve Latin, further lessons will use increasing amounts of Latin |
| Lesson on the nature (and the philosophy of such) of Divinities | a.d. XVI Kal. Junias | |
| Lesson on Pollutio and Purificatio | a.d. IX Kal. Junias | |
| Writing Wiki Documentation for the Advancement of the Religio | pr. Kal. Junias | This will include a recorded lesson, it will also be expected to be accompanied by a participation homework either by editing an existing page or creating a new page |
| June | ||
| Third Monthly Ritual | Kal. Juniis | |
| Prayer writing 2 | a.d. VII Id. Junias | Going over monthly ritual, will include Latin |
| Lesson on How to Help Other Cultores | a.d. XVIII Kal. Julias | |
| Yet to be announced | a.d. IX Kal. Julias | |
| Yet to be announced | pr. Kal. Julias | |
| July | ||
| Fourth Monthly Ritual | Kal. Juliis | |
| Yet to be announced | Non. Juliis | Going over monthly ritual |
| Yet to be announced | pr. Id. Julias | |
| Yet to be announced | a.d. X Kal. Augustas | |
| Yet to be announced | a.d. III Kal. Augustas | |
| August | ||
| Fifth Monthly Ritual | Kal. Augustis | |
| Yet to be announced | a.d. VIII Id. Augustas | Going over monthly ritual, start of revision |
| Yet to be announced | Id. Augustis | |
| Yet to be announced | a.d. XIII Kal. Septembres | |
| Study Leave | a.d. XII Kal. Septembres onwards | Miss two lessons: a.d. VI Kal. Septembres et a.d. III Non. Septembres |
| September | ||
| Graded Ritual for the Ludi Romani | Non. Septembribus | |
| Graded Exam | pr. Id. Septembres | Goes over entire course |
Application for the course
All applicants should send a request to become a camillus to here. In the following days you should receive back an application form, any questions should be discussed via email.
FAQ
- Is there a minimum amount of time one must be a citizen before being eligible for the programme? Currently there is no minimum amount of time one must be citizen before becoming a camillus, in due course this may change.
- Are the sacerdotes consecrated to a single or multiple gods? The sacerdotes are trained for one god, however a sacerdos can re-enter the camillus training to become a sacerdos for another god. As such one can be a sacerdos for multiple divinities. This will however bring a heavy toll onto the sacerdos.
- Can a camillus retrain after graduation? A camillus can be retrained for the same divinity or another after completion of the course.
- How long does the training last? As of the writing of this article, we are unsure. We expect the course to last between 6-12 months.
- Can a sacerdos become a sacerdos for a foreign god? While we do not currently specialise in foreign divinities, cults from all over the world were worshipped in Rome. We teach as per the Ritus Romanus and will continue to do so. This does not limit your worship or divinity from being a part of the course but means you will likely end up worshipping them in the Roman way.
Contributing to the course
All reputable cultores are able to contribute to the course by contacting Q. Ael. Vol.
Other materials
You can learn more about the Cultus Deorum Romanorum by browsing this from the portal, Cultus Deorum Romanorum