Handbook for Curates: A Late Medieval Manual on Pastoral Ministry (review)

The fields of pastoral care and more generally the religious life and piety of the late Middle Ages have experienced significant attention over the course of the last several decades. With this first English translation of Guido of Monte Rochen’s Manipulus curatorum, scholars and students now have a more accessible text of what was certainly one of the most widely disseminated handbooks for “neophyte priests,” particularly so after the introduction of printing in the fifteenth century.

The introduction offers a helpful overview of the Handbook by Guido, a fourteenth-century “magister” from Teruel, Spain, and the issues surrounding it. Written in the early 1330s, the Handbook survives in some 250 manuscripts and more than 1400 early printed copies. The work is saturated with references and imagery from the Bible, and Guido incorporated authorities from the patristic era to more contemporary sources in theology and canon law. Of particular interest in the introduction is the discussion of marginalia and annotations contained in the manuscripts and printed copies. Although it is difficult to speak with much precision about Guido’s medieval and early-modern readers, given the large number of annotations, clearly this was not a text that sat idly on the shelf.

Guido divided his work into three parts. Part 1 looks at the sacraments in general and then separately at baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist (the largest section in this part), holy orders, extreme unction, and marriage. Part 2 is an extended discussion of the sacrament of penance and all of the theological and practical complexities associated with the administration of this sacrament. The third part is a basic catechesis and walks the reader through the articles of faith contained in the Apostles’, Nicene, Athanasian, and Lateran Creeds along with the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and a short section on the “gifts of the blessed.”

Modern readers will find in this text a measure of pastoral/theological flexibility—the way in which Guido offers competing theories from different authorities and in some cases hesitates to provide the answer or even allows the reader to decide the best course of action. This flexibility was not uncommon in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. But in the sixteenth century, theological tensions and a sharpened doctrinal focus on the sacraments may explain why Guido’s Handbook was listed on the Spanish Inquisition’s Index of prohibited books. Modern readers also will find informative and often amusing examples about how parish priests should handle both real and hypothetical cases. For example, in his discussion of baptism, should a sleeping person be baptized, and what should be done for conjoined twins (one baptism or two)? In his discussion of the “defects” that can occur in the Mass, Guido has a lengthy discussion about what to do if a spider or fly gets into the consecrated chalice. One solution is that the insect should be “burned and its ashes kept in a shrine” (p. 104).

In all, this is a well-written and readable translation that will benefit scholars working in the fields of religious history and/or theology in the late Middle Ages. It will also be a useful source text for university or seminary students.