Entering a Clerical Career at the Roman Curia, 1458-1471 Church, Faith and Culture in the Medieval West Series

Building on recent revisionist histories of the quality and ability of the late medieval clergy, this is a comprehensive survey of the ordinations of priests at the Roman curia during the pontificates of Pius II (1458-1464) and Paul II (1464-1471). This period has often been presented as one of stasis within the Catholic Church, falling between the conciliar movement of the first half of the fifteenth century and the Protestant Reformation and counter-reformation of the sixteenth century. However the authors argue that this period was one of gradual reform, whereby the Church attempted to define and control the quality of the clergy. The study analyses archival documentation to reconstruct exactly how young men entered a clerical career, and also what influence practices at the curia had on wider clerical ordinations. The book concentrates especially on the role of the Apostolic Penitentiary in controlling the quality of priest candidates and on the role of Camera Apostolica in carrying out ecclesiastical ordinations in the papal curia. In considering the rules of who could enter the clerical career, and also why and how these rules might be circumvented, this book sheds new light on the late medieval clergy.

Contents: Introduction; Part I Shortcuts to an Ecclesiastical Career: The Roman curia and defining the quality of medieval clergy; Illegitimate children striving for an ecclesiastical career; The Apostolic penitentiary and ordinations; The granting of graces in the penitentiary; The penitentiary and the quality of candidates for an ecclesiastical career. Part II A Disorderly Process Lacking Dignity? Ordinations in the Papal Curia During the Pontificate of Paul II (1464-71): The process; The significance of the ordinations at the Roman curia; Why Rome?; Conclusions; Sources and bibliography; Indexes.

Kirsi Salonen is Tenure Track Professor in Medieval and Early Modern History in the School of History, Culture and Art Studies at the University of Turku, Finland and external lecturer of Medieval History at the University of Tampere, Finland. Jussi Hanska is external lecturer of Medieval History at the University of Tampere and of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Helsinki, Finland.