Rethinking the Sacred and Secular Divide. Accounting and Accountability Practices in the Diocese of Ferrara (1431-1457)

Purpose – Informed by the work of Laughlin and Booth, the paper analyses the role of accounting and accountability practices within the 15th century Roman Catholic Church, more specifically within the Diocese of Ferrara (northern Italy), in order to determine the presence of a sacred-secular dichotomy. Pope Eugenius IV had embarked upon a comprehensive reform of the Church to counter the spreading moral corruption within the clergy and the subsequent disaffection with the Church by many believers. The reforms were notable not only for the Pope’s determination to restore the moral authority and power of the Church but for the essential contributions of ‘profane’ financial and accounting practices to the success of the reforms.
Design/methodology/approach – Original 15th century Latin documents and account books of the Diocese of Ferrara are used to highlight the link between the new sacred values imposed by Pope Eugenius IV’s reforms and accounting and accountability practices.
Findings – The documents reveal that secular accounting and accountability practices were not regarded as necessarily antithetical to religious values, as would be expected by Laughlin and Booth. Instead, they were seen to assume a role which was complementary to the Church’s religious mission. Indeed, they were essential to its sacred mission during a period in which the Pope sought to arrest the moral decay of the clergy and reinstate the Church’s authority. Research implications/limitations – The paper shows that the sacred-secular dichotomy cannot be considered as a priori valid in space and time. There is also scope for examining other Italian dioceses where there was little evidence of Pope Eugenius’ reforms.
Originality/value – The paper presents a critique of the sacred-secular divide paradigm by considering an under-researched period and a non Anglo-Saxon context.

Ancestors of Governmentality: Accounting and Pastoral Power in the 15th Century

Foucault identified the roots of governmentality in religious beliefs and religious history with its genealogical core the equivalent of pastoral power, the art of governing people by relying on a dualistic logic; individualization and totalization. This technology of power arose and matured within the Roman Catholic Church and provided a model for many states in the achievement and exercise of power. Informed by the work of Foucault on pastoral power the present work examines the genealogical core of governmentality in the context of the Roman Catholic Church at a time of great crisis in the 15th century when the Roman Catholic Church was undergoing reform instituted by Pope Eugenius IV (1431-1447). The contributions of accounting to pastoral power are shown in this study to have been pivotal in restoring the Church’s standing and influence. Accounting was one of the technologies that allowed the bishops to control both the diocese as a whole and each priest, to subjugate the priests to the bishops’ authority and, thereby, to govern the diocese through a never-ending extraction of truth.

Getting Away With It:Corruption, Moral Indignation and the Limits of Legal Accountability

In this paper we address the idea of ‘legal but corrupt’ through a discussion of two cases: abuse scandals in the Irish Catholic Church and the financial services industry in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis. We identify two important dynamics that generated the scandals: that they were driven by strong and stable groups existing within a peculiar kind of ‘accountability space’ that we describe as ‘monastic’ and that those groups persisted with tacit or explicit support from the state. ‘Legal but corrupt’ is, we argue, a matter of insider incomprehension sustained by the ceding of sovereignty over some aspect of social or economic life.

Catholicism and Fascism in Interwar Ireland

The interwar era saw the collapse of liberal democracy and the rise of anti-democratic authoritarian movements and states throughout much of Europe. Parliamentary or liberal democracy proved especially vulnerable in countries with large Catholic populations and ‘successor states’ – those states that achieved independence following the Great War. Despite meeting both criteria, the democratic structures of the Irish Free State – established in 1922 following a revolutionary struggle against British rule – proved remarkably resilient: indeed, it was arguably the only successor state to remain fully democratic by 1939 This outcome appears all the more striking given the formation of the state amidst a civil war, a form of conflict that frequently prevented the successful emergence of democracy. This is an article about the dog that didn’t bark: why did the kind of authoritarian political movements that flourished in many other parts of interwar Europe attract negligible support in the Irish Free State, and what does this have to tell us about the relationship between Catholicism and authoritarian politics? It begins by surveying the Irish Catholic Church’s attitudes to far-right politics in Continental Europe, and assessing how ‘official’ Catholic attitudes shaped popular perceptions of fascism and clerical authoritarianism within Ireland. It then explores the extent to which Ireland’s only significant fascistic movement – the Blueshirts – was influenced by, and sought to exploit, Catholicism. It concludes by questioning whether the immense influence of the Catholic Church and Catholic values within Irish political culture and society facilitated or hindered the cause of authoritarian politics in Ireland.

Incorporation of spiritual care as a component of healthcare and medical education: comparison of viewpoints of healthcare providers from a rural community hospital in Uganda with those of medical students from United Kingdrom

This study addresses cultural differences regarding views on the place for spirituality within healthcare training and delivery. A questionnaire was devised using a 5-point ordinal scale, with additional free text comments assessed by thematic analysis, to compare the views of Ugandan healthcare staff and students with those of (1) visiting international colleagues at the same hospital; (2) medical faculty and students in United Kingdom. Ugandan healthcare personnel were more favourably disposed towards addressing spiritual issues, their incorporation within compulsory healthcare training, and were more willing to contribute themselves to delivery than their European counterparts. Those from a nursing background also attached a greater importance to spiritual health and provision of spiritual care than their medical colleagues. Although those from a medical background recognised that a patient’s religiosity and spirituality can affect their response to their diagnosis and prognosis, they were more reticent to become directly involved in provision of such care, preferring to delegate this to others with greater expertise. Thus, differences in background, culture and healthcare organisation are important, and indicate that the wide range of views expressed in the current literature, the majority of which has originated in North America, are not necessarily transferable between locations; assessment of these issues locally may be the best way to plan such training and incorporation of spiritual care into clinical practice.

O fuso e a trama: génese e identidade da ordem da Imaculada

Tese de mestrado, Estudos Românicos (Cultura Portuguesa), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras, 2011

O tempo das reformas : o papel da companhia de Jesus no enfrentamento com ideais protestantes na Europa do Sul : uma proposta pedagógica

Relatório da prática de ensino supervisionada, Mestrado em Ensino da História e da Geografia no 3º Ciclo do Ensino Básico e no Ensino Secundário, Universidade de Lisboa, 2014

O Seminário Episcopal da Conceição na formação das elites de Mato Grosso - Brasil (1858-1880)

Tese de doutoramento, Educação (História da Educação), Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Educação, 2015

Monsenhor Airosa - pedagogo - empresário : história do colégio de regeneração de Braga : (1869-1931)

Tese de doutoramento, Educação (História da Educação), Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Educação, 2015

Divulgação online da religião católica - estudo de caso: análise do website da Diocese do Porto

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada ao Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Marketing Digital, sob orientação de Mestre António da Silva Vieira

Islão transnacional e os fantasmas do colonialismo português

Este artigo examina a forma como as políticas colónias portuguesas de enquadramento do Islão na Guiné e em Moçambique evoluíram de uma representação do muçulmano como ameaça para uma imagem mais conciliadora, pela qual os muçulmanos poderiam ser potenciais aliados do poder português na guerra contra os movimentos nacionalistas. Sendo ambas as representações marcadas pela ambivalência, a primeira predominou até ao final da década de 50 e a segunda desenhou-se em meados dos anos 60, acompanhando o restante trajecto das guerras coloniais. As duas imagens corresponderam a diferentes formas de lidar com a dimensão transnacional do Islão e com o seu alegado impacto sobre o colonialismo português em África. O artigo analisa essas estratégias, abordando a participação que nelas teve a Igreja Católica, o aparelho central de poder e as suas ramificações locais nas colónias.

« Li rommans de Godefroy de Buillon et de Salehadin et de tous lez autres roys qui ont esté outre mer jusques a saint Loys qui darrenierement y fu ».

Début : « Si povés vous savoir les sains leus de la terre... — Fin : «... Adonc estoient l'an de l'incarnation Nostre Seigneur mil CCLXI. Explicit les Feiz d'Outremer. Ce livre ci fu complet d'escripture l'an de l'incarnation Nostre Seigneur mil trois cens et trante et VII, le jeudi devant la feste mon seigneur saint Thomas l'apostre devant Noël. » — Nombreuses miniatures. — Au fol. 1, on lit : « Au duc d'Arschot en 1584 ».

Thomas Wallensis in civitatem Dei.

Jacobins de la rue Saint-Honoré.

Miserere et roman de Carité du Reclus de Moliens, — Ordre de chevalerie, — Caton, les Enseignements de Saint Louis, etc.

Contient : « Miserere mei Deus, » par le Reclus de Moliens ; « Miracles de Nostre Dame, d'un chevalier qui amoit une dame » ; « Romans de Charité, » par le Reclus de Moliens ; « Mireoir. » Début : « Amis, mire toi trois fois en chest mireoir... » Incomplet. Fin : « Se tu rechois en chest siecle ton loiier pour tes bienfais, tu porras bien falir au souvrain loiier parmanable. Enten a avoir » ; Joies de Notre-Dame. Début : « Chi commenche la maniere d'ourer ensi com uns sains abbes ouroit en devotion a Nostre Dame en remembranche des XV joies que ele eut... » ; « L'Ordene de chevalerie, ensi ke li quens Hues de Tabarie l'ensigna au soudan Salehadin, » en vers ; « Catons en romans, » traduction d'Adam de Suel ; « Doctrinaus Sauvage » ; « Li bon enseignement ke li bons rois sains Loys escrit de sa main a Cartage a mon signeur Phelippon sen fill. » Début : « Chiers fieus, li premiere cose que je t'enseigne... » ; « Li enseignement ke li bons rois sains Loys escrist de sa main a ma dame Ysabel sa fille qui fu roine de Navarre. » Début : « A sa chiere et amée fille Ysabel... » ; La Comtesse de Ponthieu. Début : « Al tans passé ot i. conte en Pontiu, moult ama le siecle... » Cf. La Comtesse de Ponthieu, dans Moland et d'Héricault, Nouvelles en prose du xiiiesiècle. Paris, 1856 ; L'Ordre de chevalerie enseigné à Saladin par Hue de Tabarie. Version en prose : « El tans que Salehadins regna, il ot i. prince en Galilée... »