This volume is divided into two parts: the first has three chapters (canonisation in the thirteenth century, the process and the cult of Ambrose of Massa and the rotolo orvietano) and the second consists of the critical edition of the process of the rotolo orvietano. The opening pages trace the evolution of the process of canonisation from Innocent iii to Innocent iv. The first of these pontificates was marked by an increasing centralisation over which the pope and the Roman Curia presided. While Innocent iii canonised Gilbert of Sempringham, the founder of the Gilbertines, in 1202 and Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester, in 1203, Gregory ix was associated with the development and codification of ecclesiastical law; he canonised Francis of Assisi on 16 July 1228, Anthony of Padua on 30 May 1232 and Dominic of Caleruega on 3 July 1234. His policies were continued by Innocent iv, who completed the process of the canonisation of Edmund of Abingdon, archbishop of Canterbury, during the First Council of Lyon in 1245. Ambrose of Massa, a secular priest, was probably ministering in the vicinity of Castello del Cotone, Scansano, when he attended a sermon by Morico, a Franciscan friar, in about 1223/24. Afterwards he consulted Morico about his vocation and ministry. About two years later, when the friar returned to the same neighbourhood to preach, news reached the ears of Ambrose, who made his way there and asked to be admitted to the order. Accordingly, he was clothed in the friar's habit at Massa in 1225/26 and then was appointed to the community at Tarquinia (Corneto), perhaps for his novitiate year. Thereafter the theatre of his pastoral activity shifted to the friary at San Pietro in Vetere (in Metera) close to Orvieto until his death in the early summer of 1240. He was already a familiar figure in the local community, his holiness of life was widely acknowledged. Immediately after his death numerous miracles were reported at his tomb and this proliferation resulted in an initial petition to the papal court. On 8 June 1240 Gregory ix appointed Raniero, bishop of Orvieto, Gualcherino, bishop of Soana, and Cittandino, the prior of San Giovanni in Platea, in Orvieto, to hear the evidence regarding the conversion, conduct and miracles attributed to the friar. Shortly after Ambrose's death the friars prepared to move to another site inside the city walls of Orvieto. The new church was under the joint patronage of SS Francis of Assisi and Ambrose of Massa. Several witnesses referred to Ambrose as saint.

The second part of the volume deals with the edition of the rotolo orvietano. Nine friars were summoned to give evidence under oath before the two bishops and the prior. They confirmed that they had known Ambrose for differing periods of between two and fifteen years. Morico recounted the circumstances of his initial meeting with Ambrose, whom he had admitted to the order. The friars cited examples of his penance and holiness of life and emphasised the way in which his ministry of preaching and hearing confessions was dovetailed with the duties of collecting alms from door to door and having a special responsibility for the care of the ailing friars, as ordained by the sixth chapter of the Rule of St Francis. Ambrose was constant in his witness to evangelical poverty and went barefoot, in spite of the wounds inflicted; he did this in the depth of winter, amid snow and driving rain. He was devout at the altar, prayerful during the divine office, sensitive towards penitents and had a deep devotion to the Mother of God. Among the witnesses were two nuns and several members of the laity from Orvieto and district; no members of the local clergy gave evidence. Frederick Peppi Prudentii, the nephew of Bishop Raniero, was one of the witnesses (pp. 199–200). There was some uncertainty about the precise date of Ambrose's death, with some devotees opting for April and others for May 1240. Many of them used phrases such as tempore migrationis bone memorie beati Ambrosii (for example, p. 130). One miracle took place eight days before his demise (p. 122). The scene in the friars’ church was re-created by the witnesses’ accounts: petitioners made vows to the saint and had themselves carried to the tomb, where they placed wax images of Ambrose with prayers for healing. Some of the sick kept vigil at the tomb and rose fully cured the following morning. At least two witnesses confirmed that the friars’ church was full immediately after miracles had occurred (pp. 137, 207). One miracle took place at Tarquinia, where Ambrose had spent some time, with the supplicant promising to make his way to the saint's tomb, a journey of approximately seventy-seven kilometres (pp. 208–9). The rotolo processuale illuminates the friars’ lives in the period immediately following the death of St Francis of Assisi. Fatio, a friar, reported that he and Ambrose had spent some months together at Montedonico, Scansano, to the east of Orvieto, possibly on a preaching mission. One of the salient features was the way in which certain duties, such as the collection of alms and the care of the sick, were entrusted to both ordained and non-ordained friars alike. The friars painted a vivid picture of the order between 1225 and 1240. Among items of particular interest are the growing number of priests attracted to the order and the fact that Ambrose carried medicine to the sick. Another unusual feature was the presence of Pandolf, who was introduced as quodam episcopus Suessanus. He was undoubtedly one of the first bishops to resign in order to enter the order (pp. 116–17). The evidence of the rotolo orvietano carries valuable information for students of the process of canonisation and the second generation of the Friars Minor in central Italy.