THE ORIGINS OF
THE "MISERICORDIA" ( Mercy) PHENOMENON.

The Misericordia phenomenon, as we know it today, was created by the social and religious tradition of the participation of the citizens to the social life, and in the beginning it was called Confraternity.

"The origin of the Confraternities can be connected to the first Christian communities.
The Christianity was created and developed through a series of associations, in order to face the social structure disintegration as The Acts of the Apostles remind us.
Each of these associations is composed by its meeting, its regulations, its members and its fund; at the same time it's part of the religious and professional Confraternities federation.
At the beginning of their existence they were obstructed by the institutions, then they became to be tolerated and supported, and they acquired the structures of the roman "collegi", but vivifying them with the spirit of the evangelic brotherhood." ("Jubilaum Internationale Confraternitatum - Acta", Don Vincenzo Paglia, Roma 1984 ).

It's in the period of the Middle Ages, however, that the citizens' participation took on a more defined identity.
If they began to be created in the X century, we find them spread all over Europe in the XIII century, as an actual connective tissue of the society, in which the religious motivation coexisted with the need of social consideration and safety.
Observing this great spontaneous phenomenon, it's possible to identify the contours of four types of associations.

The Confraternities of Devotion (Praisers' Company, etc.) collect everybody who practices the same cult (for example, the cult of the Eucharist, of the Rosary) and they allow the lays to directly participate to the liturgy.
The Confraternities of the Repentants (the Company of the Disciplined Men, the Company of the Flagellants, etc.) underline the rigor of behaviour required to the followers, and the need of penance and repentance.
The Confraternities of the Professions (The Art Company, etc.) collect the members of the same profession with the cult of the holy patron, and help the members with aid services offering also a representation for each category.
And then, the Confraternities of Charity (the Misericordie of Tuscany, of Spain and Portugal, the Venice Schools, the Holy Spirit Confraternities of the Rhone lands, the Normandy Charities, the Seville Confraternities, the Teutonic Confraternities, etc.), either created in an independent way or as a result of development of other associations, they practice charity and offer assistance services by managing hospitals and organizing the burial of the dead, etc.

"The works of the Misericordia, following the evangelical pattern by Matthew 25, were one of the hinges of the Confraternity action; these associations in the Middle Ages added to the other six evangelic works of the Misericordie, a seventh one: the burial of the dead."("Jubilaum Internationale Confraternitatum - Acta", Don Vincenzo Paglia, Roma 1984).

In politically confused centuries, in which the occasions of argument between the different "authorities", civil and religious ones, were numerous, the Confraternities have often played a very important role, either in the religious or in the civil environment.
On the religious side, the Confraternities represented the efforts of the lays, to open a space among hierarchy, monks and believers.

"Besides the existence of the Ordo clericorum (The Clergy), and the Ordo monasticum (The Monastic Order), a new Order was going to be created, the Ordo fraternitatis (The Fraternity Order) which collected the lays devoted and "committed", in a sort of space between the believers and the religious people.
In these medieval associations, one of the most obvious characteristics is the importance of the penitential reform.
The Franciscan experience in itself is connected to this kind of association.("Jubilaum Internationale Confraternitatum - Acta", Don Vincenzo Paglia, Roma 1984 ).

On the civil side, the Confraternities represent one of the means through which the desire of participation to the social, politic life of the community is expressed.
The increasing importance (also economical), of some of the Confraternities, together with their great ability in moving the souls of the people, have been, since the XIV century, good motivations in order to cheat the development and the activity of the Confraternities.
Constantly keeping the balance between the suspicions of heresy, on religious side, and the political power on civil side, the Confraternities have become, often very rich because of the donations and legacies, the most common spontaneous and voluntary associations in Europe starting from the XIV century.
With these roots and premises, the phenomenon of the Misericordie started to make itself noticed..