ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the role of the Penitentiary in the petition process and analyses when the office granted the graces as well as whom the persons were who made decisions in these matters. One aspect worthy of study concerning the role and functioning of the Penitentiary as a well of such graces is the timing of the granting of illegitimacy dispensations. The signatures of the pontiff among the entries in the registers of the Penitentiary are relatively rare and mainly result from a special treatment of the case in the curia. Galeottus de Oddis, a papal protonotary, who acted as regent of the Penitentiary from November 1459 until November 1463, was the most active of the regents and signed as many as 484 petitions. All persons, except Domenicus Capranica, Filippo Calandrini and Pope Pius II himself, made decisions in the role of regent of the Penitentiary.
