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Indulgences were issued to defray the cost of building the basilica of St. Peter in Rome. Their distribution was often linked to the sacrament of penance, as believers were granted spiritual merits in exchange for financial donations. This particular indulgence, believed to be the only specimen of its kind thus far recovered, was issued specifically to clergy, granting them liturgical benefits in exchange for their contributions.

Summary: The Donation of Constantine was a work that told of how the Emperor Constantine I gave secular domination over Italy to the Bishops of Rome. Although purported to have been written in the fourth century, the humanist scholar Lorenzo Valla proved the work, long suspect to be an eighth century forgery. Vall's treatise was one of the first important works of comparative philology, a method invaluable to later biblical scholars and translators.

Summary: Important description of S. Maria Maggiore in its unaltered Renaissance state, before extensive renovations of Ferdinand Fuga in 1743.

Summary: A philosophical work discussing issues of faith versus unbelief through the symbolism of two societies, "The City of God" and "The City of Man".

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