ANNUZIA, CONFRATERNITY OF. — It was founded in S. Maria sopra Minerva in Rome by Cardinal Torquemada in 1460, to provide dowries for poor girls. The dowries were handed over on 25 March each year, and those chosen to receive them appeared with their heads adorned with flowers. Often the popes would attend this ceremony in solemn processions, accompanied by Roman nobles who distributed gifts. The dowry amounted to sixty scudi, and it was doubled for those who entered the religious state.
BIBL.: Ughelli, I, cols. 209; C. B. Piazza, *Enerologia di Roma cristiana*, VI, Rome 1713, chap. 35; P. Fournier, s. V. in *DHG*, III, col. 413.