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Abstract
This contribution critiques the current practice of studying the early modern Catholic clergy within the parameters of confessionalization and professionalization theories. Measuring the features of the early modern priest with the standards of the institutional reforms to which he was subjected, is an inevitably reductive operation. Once we take the perspective of the priest and study his career from a variety of angles (including family, education, economic opportunities, and career choices), his cultural profile may prove to be the far more complex outcome of often competing forces. Personal memoirs, such as the diary of Girolamo Magni, parish priest of Popiglio (Pistoia), arc especially helpful for the study of priests' careers and identity.