ABSTRACT
The Apostolic Penitentiary was one of the offices within the papal curia which had the authority to grant such dispensations on behalf of the pope. During the pontificate of Pius II, the Penitentiary handled and approved 1,184 petitions concerning ordinations. One important detail, the home diocese of the petitioner, is always mentioned in the supplications. The majority of the supplicants had been ordained by a bishop other than that of their home diocese. Several supplicants had also been promoted to some orders in the papal curia and needed a dispensation to receive further orders from their own bishop or from someone else with their own bishop's licence. The second defect type that can be found among the de promotis et promovendis petitions is the corporal defect. These petitions are typically relatively short explaining only the name, title and home diocese of the supplicant as well as briefly what kind of corporal defect he had.
