What Are the Boundaries? Discerning “Pietas” from “Superstitio” in a Frontier Diocese: The Pastoral Action of the Bishops of Como between the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This is an excellent article and most informative, well deserving of publication. There are one or two points, however, which should be taken into consideration.

One or two footnotes are far too long: xxxii, for example, xxxviii, and xlii. I sympathise with the desire to include both immediately useful and illustrative material, but there does need to be a limit, so that the reader can concentrate on the main text.

The authors assume that their readers can easily read Italian. This is not a safe assumption. Quotations in Italian, therefore, should be translated into English. (See, for example, pp.3 (144-147), p.10 (note 36), p.11 (note xxxii). There seems to be little point, either, in retaining short phrases in Italian, when these could easily be translated.

Occasionally the authors appear to be translating directly from the Italian in their heads, which can make for peculiar English: e.g p.5, (245, 'she'?) and 253, 'it?).

Occasionally, too, they don't translate at all: e.g. p.8, notes vi & vii and p.9, note xxi: 'in particolare' = in particular

I also suggest: p.5 (238, 'that she had' = 'and for confessing to having had'); p.6 (272 'but in the rear' = 'from the rear'); p.7 (333 'subsequent ones' = 'subsequent decades').

A brief revision by a native English speaker will remove the small blemishes.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

On the whole, the English is very good. From time to time there are slips and therefore the occasional need for slight correction, but this can be done quickly and easily.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I suggest to mention the first edition of the essays and books in order to give an appropriate reference.

For some footnotes, i.e. confessionalization, I think Bizzocchi is not the first name to mention. Thus I suggest some more bibliographical references.

Maybe in ADDF there are more documents to be consulted and in AAV too.

Author Response

Thank you for your comments.