Unrecorded enrollment document for a Roman archconfraternity.
Corsi, Cosimo [enrollee] / [Rome] / [Confaternity]. Sommario degli obblighi, indulgenze, e privilegj per i fratelli di sacco, sorelle, ed altri ascritti al Sagro Abitino della Bma V. Maria del Carmine della Ven. Archiconfraternita di tal titolo, già eretta in S. Martino a Monti ora esistente nella sua propria chiesa alle Tre Cannelle in Roma. [Rome]: s.n., signed 7 October 1832. Folio [27.5 x 19.1 cm], (2) ff., with woodcut of S. Maria del Carmine. Unbound. Some wrinking and minor edge wear.
Unrecorded document outlining the duties, privileges and indulgences pertaining to new enrollees in the Roman archconfraternity of the Sagro Abitino della Santa Maria del Carmine alle Tre Cannelle. This form represents a (greatly) abridged version of the archconfraternity’s regola and was given to new recruits to serve both as an official record of membership and as a handy guide to expected behaviors and benefits conferred. The example presented here was presented to Cosimo Corsi (1798-1870) – who later rose to the rank of Archbishop of Pisa (from 1853) – upon his enrollment on 7 October 1832. Headed by a woodcut of Santa Maria del Carmine, the document is signed at its end by the secretary and two priors of the archconfraternity. Ephemeral items of this sort are today very rare, given that they were not preserved in the collections of the archconfraternity itself, but were handed to members to take with them into the street and later lose among the masses of papers on their desks.
The document is divided into 25 numbered paragraphs, the first 4 of which discuss dress (the brown scapular sacred to Carmelites), daily prayers, licit foods (no meat on Wednesdays), etc. Items 5 through 20 outline the indulgences granted to the brothers and sister of the archconfraternity, while items 22 and 23 treat privileges of Carmelites shared by archconfraternity members, most pointedly a special privilege known as the Sabbatino that frees archconfraternity members from Purgatory on the first Saturday after death. The last two paragraphs allow for mortally ill members to be visited by and receive care from Santa Maria del Carmine alle Tre Cannelle officials and for relatives to receive aid with burial if they present this form to the archconfraternity.
Popular devotion to the Madonna del Carmine, patroness of the Carmelite Order, grew quickly during the 15th century, with special attention directed toward the holy brown scapular (here, “Sagro Abitino”) that Mary is said to have given the early Carmelite Saint Simon Stock (1165-1265). The Madonna del Carmine and brown scapular are considered to be effective hedges against an overlong stay to Purgatory.
OCLC, KVK, and OPAC locate no examples of this document.