COMPANIONSHIP OF CHARITY. - Founded in Rome on 1 January 1519 by Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, into which cardinals, prelates of the Curia, merchants and other officials soon entered, who gathered at the church of S. Andrea in Arenula with the aim of providing for the shamefaced poor, prisoners, and the wretched of every condition. The C. took special care of the monastery of the Convertite. On 28 January 1520, the number of adherents having already grown, Cardinal de' Medici erected it into an archconfraternity; having become pope under the name Clement VII, he granted to his confraternity the church of S. Girolamo, until then served by the Observant Franciscans, which took precisely the name of S. Girolamo della Carità and began to be served by 12 chaplains. It had a cardinal protector and survived even the sack of 1527, which interrupted the activity of many charitable works. St. Philip Neri was later, for many years, a guest at S. Girolamo della Carità.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: P. Paschini, La beneficenza in Italia ecc., Rome 1925, p. 41; id., Tre ricerche sulla storia della Chiesa ecc., ibid. 1945, p. 51; A. Cistellini, Figure della Riforma pretridentina, Brescia 1948, p. 289.

Pio Paschini

@incollection{ec4_compagnia_della_carita, author = {Paschini, Pio}, title = {Compagnia della Carità}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IV}, pages = {78}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/compagnia-della-carita} }

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Company of Charity

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