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M 10:00 AM-12:30 AM,01:30 AM-02:00 AM
W 01:30 PM-03:30 PM

Holly J. Grieco received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She received a Ph.D. in Medieval History from Princeton University in 2004, for a dissertation entitled, “A Dilemma of Obedience and Authority: The Franciscan Inquisition and Franciscan Inquisitors in Provence, 1235-1340. She specializes in the history of the medieval Franciscan Order, with particular interests in the development of the Order’s charism over time; Franciscan inquisitors; and Franciscan saints, canonized and otherwise.

In 2012, she published an article, “The Boy Bishop and the ‘Uncanonized Saint’: St. Louis of Anjou and Peter of John Olivi as Models of Franciscan Spirituality in the Fourteenth Century,” that seeks to understand the rise of the cult of the Franciscan Louis of Anjou and his eventual canonization in the context of the unofficial cult of a Franciscan contemporary, the theologian, Peter of John Olivi. Another recent publication, “‘In some way even more than before’: Approaches to Understanding St. Louis of Anjou, Franciscan Bishop of Toulouse,” in Center and Periphery: Studies on Power in the Medieval World in Honor of William Chester Jordan, edited by Katherine L. Jansen, G. Geltner, and Anne E. Lester, suggests using writings on prelacy and evangelical states of perfection by two Franciscan theologians, Bonaventure of Bagnoregio and Peter of John Olivi in order to illuminate the ways in which Louis of Anjou understood his dual roles as a Franciscan and as a bishop.

Currently, she is completing a book project on Franciscan inquisition and beginning research on Franciscan spiritualities and theologies of work in the Later Middle Ages.

Degree Program University
L.M.S. Medieval Studies Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, University of Toronto
Ph.D. Medieval History Princeton University
M.A. History Princeton University, with distinction
B.S. Chemistry and History University of Wisconsin- Madison, with distinction

My Siena Experience

My Favorite Courses to Teach

I love all of the courses I teach at Siena College, but for different reasons. Two of my favorites, though, are RELG 101--Religion in Western Culture and RELG 401--The Franciscan Tradition. I love sharing the Franciscan tradition with students and exploring contemporary topics within that tradition in RELG 401. And in RELG 101, I enjoy introducing students to the academic study of religion--often for the first time. One of the wonderful things about that course (as well as others) is that I continually learn new things each time I prepare to teach it.

My Professional Experience

Year Title Organization
2008 - Now Assistant Professor Siena College
2007 - 2008 Arthur J. Ennis, OSA, Post-doctoral Fellow Villanova Center for Liberal Education at Villanova University
2006 - 2007 Mellon Post-doctoral Fellow Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies at the University of Toronto
2004 - 2006 Lecturer Bryn Mawr College

Articles & Book Reviews

  • Review of Inquisitors and Heretics in Thirteenth-Century Languedoc: Edition and Translation of Toulouse Inquisition Depositions, 1273-1282, edited by Peter Biller, Caterina Bruschi, and Shelagh Sneddon.
    English Historical Review
    2012
  • Review of The Writings of Francis of Assisi: Letters and Prayers. Studies in Early Franciscan Sources, Volume I. Edited by Michael W. Blastic, OFM, Jay M. Hammond, and J.A. Wayne Hellmann, OFM Conv.
    The Medieval Review
    2012
  • The Boy Bishop and the 'Uncanonized Saint': St. Louis of Anjou and Peter of John Olivi as Models of Franciscan Spirituality in the Fourteenth Century
    Franciscan Studies, vol. 70
    2012
  • Review of A History of Medieval Heresy and Inquisition by Jennifer Kolpacoff Deane
    Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft Studies
    2011
  • Franciscan Inquisition and Mendicant Rivalry in mid-thirteenth century Marseille
    Journal of Medieval History, vol. 34
    2008
  • Review of The Making of Saint Louis: Kingship, Sanctity, and Crusade in the Later Middle Ages, by M. Cecilia Gaposchkin
    Canadian Journal of History, vol. XLIV
    Autumn, 2009
  • Review of The Transformation of the Laity in Bergamo, 1265-c. 1400, by Roissin Cossar
    Canadian Journal of History, vol. XLII
    Autumn, 2007

Awards & Distinctions

  • Siena College Committee on Teaching and Faculty Development Summer Research Fellowship for a project entitled 'The Boy Bishop and the 'Uncanonized Saint': St. Louis of Anjou, Peter Olivi, and Models of Franciscan Spirituality in the Fourteenth Century.'
    Category: Other
    Siena College, 2010
  • Siena College Committee on Teaching and Faculty Development Summer Fellowship for Curriculum Diversification for a course entitled 'Sex, Gender, and Religion in the Middle Ages.'
    Category: Other
    Siena College, 2009
  • Arthur J. Ennis, OSA Post-doctoral Fellow at the Center for Liberal Education at Villanova University
    Category: Other
    Liberal Education at Villanova University, 2008
  • Mellon Post-doctoral Fellow at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies at the University of Toronto
    Category: Other
    Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies at the University of Toronto, 2007
  • Camargo Foundation Fellow, Cassis, France
    Category: Other
    Camargo Foundation Fellow, 2003
  • Princeton University Center for the Study of Religion Dissertation Fellow
    Category: Other
    Princeton University Center for the Study of Religion Dissertation, 2003
  • Princeton University, Department of History Rollins Prize
    Category: Other
    Princeton University, 2003
  • French Embassy, Chateaubriand Scholarship Recipient
    Category: Other
    French Embassy, 2002
  • Princeton University, Department of History Davis Merit Prize
    Category: Other
    Princeton University, 2000
  • Barry Goldwater Scholarship for Students in Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Engineering
    Category: Other
    Barry Goldwater Scholarship, 1997

Books & Book Chapters

  • Center and Periphery: Studies on Power in the Medieval World in Honor of William Chester Jordan

    2012
  • The Origin, Development, and Refinement of Medieval Religious Mendicancies
    Brill
    2011

Presentations

  • The Boy Bishop and the 'Uncanonized Saint': St. Louis of Anjou, Peter Olivi, and Models of Franciscan Spirituality in the Fourteenth Century
    December, 2011
    Siena College Religious Studies Department Colloquium, Loudonville, New York
  • Locating the Sanctity of Louis of Anjou: The Development of the Cult of a 14th-Century Franciscan Saint
    May, 2011
    Forty-sixth International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan
  • Inquisition and Franciscan Identity, or An Extended Meditation on Obedience and the Dream of Innocent III
    March, 2009
    Siena College Religious Studies Department Colloquium, Loudonville, New York
  • Episcopal Power and the Franciscan Ideal: St. Louis of Anjou, Bishop of Toulouse
    May, 2008
    Forty-third International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan
  • A Fourteenth-Century Inquisitor Reflects: Obedience and Franciscan Spirituality
    April, 2008
    Thirty-fifth Annual Sewanee Mediaeval Colloquium, Sewanee, Tennessee
  • Rethinking the Franciscan Apostolate: Inquisitors and the Franciscan Rule
    October, 2007
    Thirty-Second Annual Patristic, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies Conference at Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania
  • Remembering Louis of Anjou: The Creation of a Fourteenth-Century Franciscan Saint
    June, 2007
    Fourth Annual Symposium of the International Medieval Society-Paris, Paris, France
  • The 'Uncanonized Saint' and the Boy Bishop: Peter Olivi, St. Louis of Anjou, and Models of Franciscan Spirituality in the Fourteenth Century
    May, 2007
    Forty-second International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan
  • 'Ce pourrait être un beau sujet d'opéra romantique!': Franciscan Inquisition in mid-thirteenth century Marseille
    May, 2004
    Medieval Colloquium, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
  • Franciscans and Urban Inquisition in Marseille, 1315-1330
    May, 2004
    Thirty-ninth International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan
  • A Dilemma of Obedience and Authority: Franciscan Inquisitors in the South of France
    July, 2003
    International Medieval Congress, Leeds, United Kingdom
  • Inquisitorial Manuals, Inquisitors' Duties, and the Franciscan Rule
    May, 2003
    Thirty-eighth International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan