ANNUNZIATA, CONFRATERNITA della. — It was founded in S. Maria sopra Minerva in Rome by Cardinal Torquemada in 1460, to provide dowries for poor girls. The dowry was presented on 25 March of each year, and those selected came to receive it with their heads crowned with flowers. The popes often went to this ceremony in solemn cavalcades, accompanied by Roman nobles who distributed gifts. The dowry amounted to sixty scudi, and for those who embraced the religious state it was doubled.
BIBL.: Ughelli, I. col. 209; C. B. Piazza, Emerologia di Roma cristiana, VI, Roma 1713, cap. 35; P. Fournier, s. V. in DHG, III, col. 413. Silverio Mattei