The project Curating the Past, Shaping the Future: The Roman Curia and 17th-Century Administration of Historiographical Practices investigates historiographical practices within post-Tridentine Catholicism (1665–1735), focusing on the struggle for historical “truth” within a thought collective that claimed universality and unity both internally and externally. The study is structured into three main sections:

1. Roman Dicasteries and Variants in Catholic Historiography: The first section explores the actions of the Roman dicasteries in addressing variants within Catholic historiography deemed heretical. It highlights the Curia’s role in the propagandistic competition with other Catholic authorities.

2. Absence of Official Roman Historiography: The second chapter examines why no official Roman historiography existed and investigates the contributions of individual actors in producing independent historical narratives.

3. Roman Censorship of Major Historiographical Works: The third section delves into the Roman censorship of significant historiographical texts. It focuses on early modern censorship procedures, the professionalization and institutionalization of curial censorship, and the interactions between curial officials and professional historians. This section also addresses the Roman strategies that facilitated the suppression or obscuring of the decoupling of history from its ecclesiological function, a process that began as early as the sixteenth century.

About the picture: Book shelf in the Biblioteca Casanatense, Rome, Italy (image: Andreea Badea, private).