Holly J. Grieco

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.

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

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