5 - Men and women in Roman confraternities in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries: roles, functions, expectations

Summary

Men and women joining Rome's Gonfalone confraternity in the late fifteenth century swore a membership oath which expressed the religious attitudes common to a large part of the devout laity. The venerable brotherhood's statutes, revised in 1495, lay out a program of private devotions and collective activities necessary to obtain the soul's salvation. Brothers and sisters had to “perform deeds which were pleasing” to God, to the Virgin Mary, and to the patron saints, in accordance with the instructions laid down by the confraternity's administering bodies regarding two general areas of collective life. First, regarding the economic management of the confraternity, applicants pledged to “procure the honor, use and enhancement of the places, buildings and property of the said company,” and accept the attendant social duties, carry them out conscientiously, and give an account of them at the end of the mandate. Second, regarding devotional practices, members agreed both to participate in public events, marching in processions and attending funerals, memorial services, and anniversaries organized for deceased fellow–members and benefactors, and to offer up private prayers for these defunti on the occasion of their funeral and on the anniversaries of their death.

The “program” which the new member of the Gonfalone confraternity undertook to follow is laid out in great detail in the seventy-four articles of the statutes and resembles those drawn up by other religious lay associations of the time.