This weekend, Nice is hosting the 70th Gathering of the Confraternities of Penitents from France & Monaco, a major national meeting of laypeople from various Confraternities of Penitents, who throughout the centuries have managed to maintain their commitment to charitable and cultural works.
As part of this gathering, which is expected to welcome nearly 700 people, a procession of the Penitents’ confraternities will take place on Sunday (departure at 9 am from La Bourgada, north of the Promenade du Paillon).
Then at 10 am, the Pontifical Mass will be presided over by Bishop Marceau of Nice and Archbishop Barci of Monaco, Chaplain of the Gathering (Sainte-Réparate Cathedral).
The Confraternities of Penitents were established in Rome in the 13th century. They quickly spread to all the towns and villages of Christendom.
Their members practice charity in all its forms towards their neighbors (social, cultural, hospital, humanitarian, educational, financial, spiritual, funerary charity, etc.) and conduct their worship in their chapels.
Endorsed by the Church, they are nevertheless endowed with great freedom of action and have remained, in France, the owners of all their real estate assets. Indeed, the 1905 law on the separation of Church and State did not apply to them.
In Nice, the establishment of the Penitents dates back to 1306. The city has had up to 7 confraternities (one of which was exclusively female) and up to 101 confraternities in its County, where in 1809 there were counted 12,200 Penitents, approximately 1 Penitent for every 7 inhabitants.
Today, there are still 4 confraternities in Nice, 1 in Monaco, 14 in other towns and villages of the County, totaling more than 1000 Penitents. The first association under the 1901 law created in the Alpes Maritimes is the Confraternity of the Holy Cross, White Penitents of Nice.
