Academic Degrees
Ph.D., M.A., Harvard University; B.A., Columbia University
S.T.L., M. Div., Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley; Biennio di Filosofia, Gregorian University, Rome
Research Areas
History of Preaching and Popular Devotional Literature, 15th-17th Centuries; Social and Religious Context of Renaissance and Baroque Art; Bernardino of Siena; Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
Honors and Awards
Cavaliere (Knight) in the Ordine della Stella della Solidarietà Italiana.
Publications and Papers
Books
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Francis Xavier and the Jesuit Missions in the Far East: An Anniversary Volume of Early Printed Sources in the Jesuitana Collection of the John J. Burns Library, Boston College, co-editor. Chestnut Hill: The Jesuit Institute, 2006. |
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Hope and Healing: Painting in Italy in a Time of Plague, 1500-1800, co-editor. Exhibition catalogue, Worcester Art Museum, 2005. |
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Saints and Sinners: Caravaggio and the Baroque Image. Exhibition catalogue, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, 1999. |
Recent Articles and Book Chapters
"Pestilence, Apostasy, and Heresy in Seventeenth-Century Rome: Deciphering Michael Sweerts' Plague in an Ancient City,"
Piety and Plague: From Byzantium to the Baroque, (Sixteenth Century Essays and Studies, Truman State University Press, 2007).
"Nudus Nudum Christum Sequi: The Franciscans and Differing Interpretations of Male Nakedness in Fifteenth-Century Italy," Fifteenth Century Studies 33 (2008): 171-197.
"Response to the Plague in Early Modern Italy: What the Primary Sources, Printed and Painted, Reveal" in Hope and Healing: Painting in Italy in a Time of Plague, 1500-1800, Worcester Art Museum, 2005, pp. 1-44.
"The Painted Visions of Fra Angelico: A New Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum," America, vol. 193, no. 20, December 19, 2005.
Recent Papers and Presentations
"Raphael's Disputa at the Vatican: Neither Disputation nor Eucharist," UCLA Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, Mellon Fdtn Sawyer Seminar Series, "Disputation: Arguing In and Out of the University," April 22, 2008.
"Bernini's Religion." Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Minneapolis, October 2007.
"Pestilence, Apostasy and Heresy in 17th-century Rome: Deciphering Michael Sweerts' Plague in an Ancient City," Centre for Early Modern Studies, University of Aberdeen, Scotland, Conference on: "Icons and Iconoclasts, 1603-1714," July 20, 2006.
"Naked to Follow the Naked Christ: The Franciscans and the Late Medieval Destiny of Jerome's Ascetic Adage." Harvard University, Humanities Center Seminar on Medieval Studies, March 20, 2006.
"Ambiguous Baroque: The Sensual, the Sexual and the Sacred in Devotional Art of Seventeenth-Century Italy," The Luce Program in Scripture and Literary Arts, Boston University, February 23, 2006.
"Using Art to Teach Italian Culture and History," presentation at the "Professional Development Course on AP Italian Language and Literature, for High School Teachers" sponsored by the Consulate of Italy in Boston and the National Italian American Foundation, Boston College, June 4, 2005.
"Christianity and Art: Piety and Power. The Church Responds to Art." Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, November 30 and December 2, 2004.
"Bernardino of Siena: The Dynamics of His Preaching Performance," for conference, "Charisma and Religious Authority: Jewish, Christian and Muslim Preaching, 1200-1600," Queen Mary College, University of London, July 26, 2004.
