ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a range of possible motives for ordination at the Roman curia. It deals with the motives of those who chose to be ordained to the priesthood at the Roman curia instead of in their home diocese. Johannes Alfonsi was by no means the only one who acted against the regulations of canon law when ordained at the Roman curia. The most common way of cheating was to lie about one's title, just like a certain Petrus Galli from the diocese of Nivers in France. Another possible motive for seeking ordination in Rome was that there were, especially at the beginning of a new pontificate, plenty of possibilities for young clerks to secure themselves a lucrative benefice. Some of these benefice-hunters were poor clerks who were relying on the age-old tradition of newly-elected popes providing poor priests with benefices. There were numerous perfectly legal and morally acceptable reasons to seek ordination at the Roman curia.
