ABSTRACT
This chapter examines one patron’s fear of lackluster clergy and the potential contribution of private chapels in the community through the portal of an important, previously unpublished text: The Institution of the Chaplain (1524). In this prescriptive foundation text Paris de’ Grassi, the bishop of Pesaro, described in great detail his own expectations and responsibilities as a chapel patron, as well as the way that administrative issues (including chapel finances, staffing challenges, and conflicts between the canons, chaplains, and patrons) must uphold the greater goal of a devout liturgy. De’ Grassi’s experience at the papal court in Rome and at the cathedral college in Bologna had introduced him to poorly paid hired priests and disinterested canons, whose behavior could either excite or suppress popular devotion. This text’s extensive and pragmatic detail argue for it to be a model of best practice for private liturgical patronage in an age of expanding collaboration between lay donors and churches and against increasing criticism of this potentially venal relationship.
