confraternite

Confraternite, or confraternity, is a lay Catholic religious association formed to promote devotion, charity, and mutual aid among its members and the community. Emerging in late medieval Western Europe, confraternities brought together laypeople and sometimes clergy around a common devotional practice or patron saint.

Most confraternities were organized around a parish church or a chapel and operated under dedicated statutes. Members pledged to support one another and to perform acts of charity—hospital care, care for the poor, burial costs, and assistance to the sick—often coordinated with local authorities or churches.

Ritual life was central: members took part in processions, prayers, and devotional services; some wore distinctive robes or insignia during public rites. Many confraternities formed around a specific devotion—Our Lady of Sorrows, the Holy Cross, the Sacred Heart—and were sometimes named to reflect their focus (for example, a Misericordia or Mercy confraternity).

Confraternities varied in structure but typically had elected officers, by-laws, annual meetings, and property or chapels. They could be parish-based or city-wide urban fraternities; some acted as mutual aid societies for members and their families. In the Catholic world, confraternities flourished especially in Italy, Spain, Portugal, France and parts of German-speaking Europe, and in Latin America as well through colonial expansion.

With the rise of secularization, reorganization, or suppression in certain periods, many confraternities persisted as devotional groups or charitable associations within parishes. Today, numerous confraternities still exist, maintaining historic rituals and charitable activities, often in connection with feast days, processions, and social services.