Provincia

Canada Occidentalis

Nova Roma

The Provincia of Canada Occidentalis in Nova Roma comprises the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba as well as the territories of Yukon, Northwest Territory, and Nunavut. We are also affiliated with Legio XXI in Calgary.

Here in Western Canada, in the “frozen north”, we may not have the benefit of being born in the shadows of Rome itself, a Roman city or a Roman colonia and of strolling in our formative years amongst these ruins. We may be lacking in the great visual reminders of the Pax Romana but in our museums, libraries, art galleries, theatres, and bookshops, as well as in the architecture of some of our older buildings, we can find fragments of Ancient Rome. From these sources we can draw the inspiration necessary to build a Nova Roman community.

To be Nova Roman is to express one’s allegiance not to a nation but to the idea of Rome, and while nations may rise and fall this idea will endure. So what are we? We are individuals, we are (to name but a few) Britons, French, Germans, Americans, Canadians, Italians, Spaniards, Brazilians, and of course Italians.

The commonality that we all have inside us is the spirit of Ancient Rome, which transcends time, distance and nationality. We are the product of our nation and will ever remain so. We must always be ready to answer any call of duty made upon us, while at the same time, and without any contradiction, owe allegiance to the inner spirit of Romanitas that we have made our creed.

We are united as citizens of the mind and spirit, owing allegiance to the memory of the immemorial river of Roman culture that survived the fall of the Empire and transcended into the most unconquerable of all states of existence, an idea.

Nova Roma is our expression of that idea. It is less than a nation but its foundation, Ancient Rome, will survive longer than any nation. Nova Roma itself may yet fail and pass into the shadows, but the idea of Rome will continue to march through time, uniting at least some of the citizens of the nations that were born from its ruins, and even some of those from areas that never lived under the Pax Romana.

So what is Nova Roma? Nova Roma is a nation of the mind and spirit and as Propraetor of the Province of Canada Occidentalis I invite you to join our community in the exploration and development of its Romanitas.