FRATERNITIES, religious societies for pious practices and benevolent objects. They were often formed during the Middle Ages, from a desire of imitating the holy orders. From the 12th to the 15th century nothing was con sidered more meritorious than to form and be long to such orders. The laity, who did not Wish to pronounce the monastic vows, entered into associations in order to gain some of the advantages of the religious even in their worldly life. These societies were at first formed with out any ecclesiastical interference, and on this account many of them, which did not obtain or did not seek the acknowledgment of the Church, had the appearance of • separatists, which sub jected them to the charge of heresy. The pious fraternities which were formed under the direc tion of the Church or were acknowledged by it were either required by their rules to afford assistance to travelers, to the unfortunate, the distressed, the sick and the deserted, on ac count of the inefficiency of the police, and the want of institutions for the poor, or to perform certain acts of penitence and devotion. Of this description were the Fratres Pontifices, a brotherhood that originated in Tuscany in the 12th century, where they maintained estab lishments on the banks of the Arno, to enable travelers to cross the river and to succor them in case of distress. A similar society was af terward formed in France, where they built bridges and hospitals, maintained ferries, kept the roads in repair, and provided for the security of the highways. A bridge of 18 arches over the Rhone at Avignon, built by Saint Benizet in 1177 and another of 22 arches over the same river at Pont Saint Esprit, built between 1265 and 1309, were among their great est achievement in bridge-building. They grad ually amassed great wealth by alms and gifts. In 1519 they were secularized on account of the abuses that had crept into the order.
Similar to these were the Knights and Com panions of the Santa Hermandad in Spain; the Familiars and Cross-bearers in the service of the Spanish Inquisition; the Calendar Brothers in Germany; the Alexians in Germany, Poland and the Netherlands, etc. The professed ob ject of the Alexians was to visit the sick and imprisoned; to collect alms for distribution; to console criminals, and accompany them to the place of execution; to bury the dead, and to cause masses to be said for those who had been executed, or for persons found dead. They derived their names from Alexius, their patron saint, and were at first principally com posed of persons from the lower classes of the people in the Netherlands. They were after ward increased by the addition of the female branch, the Black Sisters. Although lay brothers they had houses, and formed their order into twoprovinces under an ecclesiastical government. They still exist, in the societies for burying dead bodies, in Antwerp, Utrecht and Cologne. The Brothers of Death, of the order of Saint Paul, were dressed in black, like the Alexians, and were distinguished by a death's head on their scapulary. They were
suppressed by Pope Urban VIII.
There were also Gray Penitents (an old fraternity of an order existing as early as 1264 in Rome, and introduced into France under Henry III), the black fraternities of Mercy and of Death; the Red, the Blue, the Green and the Violet Penitents, so called from the color of their cowl; the divisions of each were known by the colors of the girdle or mantle. The fra ternity of the Holy Trinity was founded at Rome in 1548 by Philip de' Neri for the relief of pilgrims and the cured dismissed from the hospitals. The Brothers of the Christian Schools are a fraternity founded near the end of the 17th century, the statutes of which were approved by Benedict XIII. Their labors have been of great service in the cause of elemen tary and secondary education in France, though their work is not confined to France but ex tends over a large part of the world, including Belgium, North and South America and Eng land. They take religious vows, wear a suit of clerical dress and always work in pairs. In Ireland there is a body of Christian Brothers modeled on the French one, the first of its schools having been opened at Waterford in 1804. Their schools have spread over Ireland, and their system of education has received the approval of various royal commissions.
The Brothers of Common Life, founded at Deventer in Holland by the celebrated theolo gian, Gerald Groot, toward the end of the 14th century, and formally approved by Gregory XI in 1376, were a fraternity which performed great services to learning, especially theological learning. From Holland they spread rapidly over Germany, and increased so greatly in num bers that 500 houses belonged to the order in 1460. The Roman Catholic Church is indebted to it for a text of the Latin version of the Bible by Saint Jerome, most carefully prepared by a collation of the most ancient manuscripts. This text was consulted• as an authority by the ed itors of the Bible prepared at the command of Sixtus V. The same order prepared some texts of the Christian fathers.
The Brothers of Charity are another fra ternity whose hospitals are found in the princi pal cities. It was founded by Saint John de Dieu in Spain in 1540. Much better known in Great Britain are the Sisters of Charity (called also Gray Sisters, Daughters of Charity, Sisters of Saint Vincent de Paul), a Roman Catholic order founded in 1634 at Paris by Saint Vin cent de Paul for the purpose of nursing the sick in hospitals. The sisters take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, besides a vow binding, themselves to serve the sick. Besides conducting hospitals and nursing, they some times undertake the management of poor schools. They attend the sick of every nation and religion. There is also a body of Irish Sisters of Charity, separate from the one just mentioned. See GREEK-LETTER SOCIETIES or COLLEGE FRATERNITIES and ORDERS, RELIGIOUS.