FRATERNITIES

in Roman Catholic countries, are societies for the, so-called, improvement of devotion. They are of several sorts and several denominations. Some take their name from certain famous instruments of piety. The more remarkable are, 1. The fraternity of the Rosary. This society owes its rise to Dominic, the founder of the Rosary. He appointed it, they say, by order of the Ble ed Virgin, at the time when he was labouring on the conversion of the Albigenses. After the saint’s death, the devotion of the Rosary became neglected, but was revived by Alanus de Rupe, about the year 1460. This fraternity is divided into two branches, that of the Common Rosary, and that of the Perpetual Rosary. The former is obliged, every week, to say the fifteen divisions of ten beads each, and to confe , and communicate, every first Sunday in the month. The brethren of it are likewise obliged to appear at all proce ions of the fraternity. The latter are under very strong engagements, the principal of which is, to repeat the rosary perpetually; i. e. there is always some one of them, who is actually saluting the Ble ed Virgin in the name of the whole fraternity. 2. The fraternity of the Scapulary, whom it is pretended, according to the Sabbatine bull of Pope John XXII., the Ble ed Virgin has promised to deliver out of hell the first Sunday after their death. 3. The fraternity of St. Francis’s girdle are clothed with a sack of a grey colour, which they tie with a cord; and in proce ions walk barefooted, carrying in their hands a wooden cro . 4. That of St. Austin’s leathern girdle comprehends a great many devotees. Italy, Spain, and Portugal are the countries where are seen the greatest number of these fraternities, some of which a ume the name of arch-fraternity. Pope Clement VII. instituted the arch-fraternity of charity, which distributes bread every Sunday among the poor, and gives portions to forty poor girls on the feast of St. Jerome, their patron. The fraternity of death buries such dead as are abandoned by their relations, and causes ma es to be celebrated for them.— Brought on.