The Public Face of Post‐Tridentine Italian Confraternities

Abstract

Catholic reforming policies and Council of Trent rules encouraged and expanded the more public roles and responsibilities of lay confraternities, changing the nature of some old brotherhoods, and promoting new ones. The public images became more important for members, the wider church institutions including associated religious orders, and the public. This article considers some significant aspects of the “public face”: processions, Forty Hour devotions, philanthropy. Confraternities contributed to the theatricality of post‐tridentine, “baroque” religion in cities like Bologna, Naples and most especially Rome, where the Spanish national confraternity played a spectacular role.

Sisters of early modern confraternities in a small town in the Southern Netherlands (Aalst)

“…Since statutes and account books of the pre-Tridentine confraternity of Saint Catherine are not available, it is not possible to focus on the changing meaning and importance of procession for religious confraternities before and after the Council of Trent, but Christopher Black has argued that post-Tridentine confraternities were more concerned with a more public expression of their devotion and processions were thus an important way for confraternities to present and display their devotion within the civic space. 49 Nevertheless, in our case-study, processions appear to have been important and regularly held public events in post-Tridentine brotherhoods. As we turn to the account books, it becomes clear that a considerable number of expenses were made for embroidered banners, candles and the special care of the requiems.…”

Household credit, social relations, and devotion in the early modern economy. A case study of religious confraternities and credit relations in the Southern Netherlands

“…20 Within the Catholic reformation, episcopal authorities soon operationalized religious confraternities as channels for spreading renewed catholic norms and values in the interest of religious, moral and social uniformity. 21 Like most of their post-Tridentine counterparts elsewhere, the confraternities in Aalst were strictly devotional. 22 While pre-Tridentine confraternities generally had a more exclusive, social and lay character, post-Tridentine confraternities usually aimed to include as many of the faithful as possible, and to gather them in one devotional community.…”

Confraternal Devotions in Malta, 1670–1798

“…131 Put differently, they were not purely liturgical rituals, satisfying the call to an interior engagement, but also manifestations of religious devotion and piety as public expressions of collective pride and prestige. 132 They were the confraternities' showpiece, one of the more important ways to create their identity, to the effect that attendance was compulsory and if a feast fell on a weekday the confratelli would petition the bishop to move it to a Sunday to attract a larger congregation. 133 The splendid feast organised by the brethren of Our Lady of Carmel at Valletta in 1778 is a typical example of both the liturgical and the mundane elements of these celebrations.…”