Kathleen M. Comerford, Professor of History, Georgia Southern University
Current Project:
I am studying several Tuscan Jesuit college foundations in light of the development of the
Ratio Studiorum and Biblioteca Selecta, as well
as the relationship of building a Jesuit network to the building of the Medici Granducato
in the period 1550-1650.
Selected Publications:
“‘I
can’t imagine it won’t bear fruit’: Jesuits, Politics and Heretics in Siena,
Montepulciano and Lucca,” in Defining Community in Early Modern Europe,
edited by Michael Halvorson and Karen Spierling, Burlington: Ashgate, 2008.
Reforming Priests and Parishes: Tuscan Diocesan Seminaries to 1700. Leiden: Brill, 2006.
“Post-Tridentine Tuscan Seminaries: Collaboration between City-State
and Church?” Paedagogia Historica,
43 (2007): 347-364.
“The care of souls is a very grave burden for [the pastor]:” Professionalization
of Clergy in Early Modern Florence, Lucca, and Arezzo,” Dutch Review
of Church History (2005):
368-387.
“Chierici e seminari nei primi decenni post-tridentini in Toscana,”
Per il Cinquecento Religioso Italiano: Clero Cultura Società, Convegno
internazionale di studi. Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 2003.
“Teaching Priests to be Pastors: Comparing Jesuit Schools and Diocesan
Seminaries in Seventeenth-Century Italy.” Archivum Historicum Societatis
Iesu, 72
(2003): 297-322.
Early Modern Catholicism: Essays in Honour of John O’Malley, S. J.:
Co-editor with Hilmar M. Pabel (Simon Fraser University, BC, Canada), and contributor.
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001. Simultaneous paper and cloth editions.
Ordaining the Catholic Reformation: Priests and Seminary Pedagogy in Fiesole,
1575-1675. Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 2001.
“The Influence of the Jesuits on the Seminary Curriculum of Fiesole, 1635-1646.”
Catholic Historical Review 89 (1998): 662-680.
“Italian Tridentine Diocesan Seminaries: A Historiographical Study.”
Sixteenth Century Journal 29 (1998): 997-1020.
Selected Conference Presentations:
“Jesuit Tuscan Libraries:
Bibliotheca not-yet Selecta,”
Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Montreal, Canada, 2010.
“Mutual Conquests: Jesuit and Medici Strategies for the Control of Tuscany,
1550s-1650s,” Renaissance Society of America Conference, Venice, Italy, 2010
“Early Jesuit Foundations and their Libraries
in Tuscany,”Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, St. Louis, 2008.
“Jesuit Teaching and Medici Power in Florence,
1540s-1590s,” Renaissance Society of America Conference, Chicago, IL 2008.
“‘I can’t imagine it won’t bear fruit’: Jesuits, Politics and Heretics in Siena
and Neighboring Regions,” Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Salt Lake City,
UT, October 2006.
“A Generation Comes of Age: The New Histories of Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century
Catholicism in Italy,” Storia Internazionale e Politiche Estere [International
History and Foreign Policies]”), Genoa, Italy, October 2004
“‘The Cure of Souls is Burdensome for [the pastor]’ or: We
Didn’t Invent the Mission Statement in the 20th Century.” Sixteenth
Century Studies Conference in Toronto, October 2004)
Conference committee, American Society for Church History, Savannah, GA March
2005.
“Seminaries and Tuscan Communes in the Seventeenth Century,” Sixteenth
Century Studies Conference, October 2002.
“Seminaries Between City-State and Church,” New College Biennial
Conference on Medieval-Renaissance Studies, Sarasota, Florida, March 2002.
“Confessionalizing the Contado: Rural
Tuscan Parishes in the Baroque Era,” American Historical Association Conference,
January 2000.
“The Best-Laid Plans: Urban and Administrative Issues in Fiesole's Catholic
Reformation From Above,” American Catholic Historical Association Spring
Conference, April 1998 (also session organizer).
“Creating a New Clerical Elite? The Impact of Seminary Education on the
Diocese of Fiesole,” Renaissance Society of America Conference, April
1996 (also session chair).
“Jesuit Influences on the Curriculum of the Diocesan Seminary of Fiesole,”
American Catholic Historical Association Conference, April 1995.
“Justification through Education: Confession as a Teaching Tool in the
Renaissance and Reformation,” Newberry Library Graduate Student Conference,
June 1993.
Post-Graduate Awards/Honors:
Georgia Southern University CLASS
Faculty Seed Grant, Nov. 2010-May 2011
Folger Shakespeare Library Mascioli
Short-Term Fellowship, Summer 2010
Center for Excellence in Teaching Grant
for Professional Travel, April 2010
Georgia Southern University College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Award
for Excellence in Research, 2008
Georgia Southern University Faculty Research Grant, 2005
Ranked alternate, Solmsen Institute for Research in the Humanities, University
of Wisconsin, 2004-2005
Renaissance Society of America/Istituto Nazionale di Studi sul Rinascimento
Grant, 2002
Georgia Southern University Faculty Research Stipend, 2000
Georgia Southern University Faculty Research Grant, 2000
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Grant for study in the Vatican Film Library, St.
Louis University, 1998
Bernadotte E. Schmitt Grant from the American Historical Association, 1997
University of Wisconsin-Madison Friends of the Library Grant-in-Aid, 1996
Memberships:
Society for Early Modern Catholic Studies, 1999-
Secretary, 2002-2003
Secretary/Treasurer, 2001-2002
Renaissance Society of America, 1997-
American Catholic Historical Association, 1992-
Nominated for Nominating Committee, 2001
Executive Council, 2002-2005
Sixteenth-Century Studies Conference/Scholars of Early Modern Studies, 1991-
Council, 2004-2007
Chair, Ad Hoc Committee on Prizes,
2007-
Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society, 1988-
Languages:
Reading and speaking, Italian,
including sixteenth and seventeenth-century paleography; reading, French, Latin,
and Spanish; basic competency reading, Portuguese and German.