Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/702

 PENITENTIAL

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PENNSYLVANIA

Penitential Psalms. See Psalms.

Penitents, Confraternities of, congregations, with statutes prescribing various penitential works, sudi as fasting, the use of the discipline, the wearing of a hair shirt, etc. The number of these confraternities increjised to such a degree, Rome alone counting over a hundred, that the only way of classifying them is ac- cording to the colour of tlic garb w'orn for processions and devotional exercises. This consists of a heavy robe confined with a girdle, with a pointed hood con- cealing the face, the openings for the eyes permitting the wearer to see without being recognized. These confraternities have their own statutes, their own churches, and often their own cemeteries. Aspirants must serve a certain time of probation before being ad- mitted.

(1) White PenHeiils. — The rtiost important group of these is the Archconfraternity of the Gonf alone, es- tablished in 1264 at Rome. St. Bonaventure, at that time Inquisitor-general of the Holy Office, prescribed the rules, and the white habit, with the name Recom- mendati B. V. M. This confraternity was erected in the Church of St. Mary Major by Clement IV in 126.5, and four others having been erected in the Church of Ara Cceli, was raised to the rank of an arehconfrater- nitj', to which the rest were aggregated. The title of gonfalonc, or standard-bearer was acquired during the pontificate of Innocent IV, when the members with- stood the violence of the Roman nobles and elected a governor of the capitol to represent the pope, then at Avignon. Many privileges and churches were granted to this confraternity by succeeding pontiffs, the head- quarters now being the Church of Santa Lucia del Gonfalone. The obligations of the members are to care for the sick, bury the dead, provide medical ser- vice for those unable to afford it, and give dowries to poor girls. What distinguishes these White Penitents from those of other confraternities is the circle on the shoulder of the habit, within it a cross of red and white. Other confraternities of White Penitents are those of the Blessed Sacrament at St. John Lateran, the Blessed Sacrament and the Five Wounds at S. Lorenzo in Dama.so, the Guardian Angel, etc.

(2) Black Penitcnis. — The chief confraternity in this group is that of Misericordia, or of the Beheading of St. John, founded in 1488 to assist and console crim- inals condemned to death, accompany them to the gallows, and provide for them religious services and Christian burial. The Archconfraternity of Death provides burial and religious services for the poor and those found dead within the limits of the Roman Cam- pagna. Other confraternities of Black Penitents are those of The Crucifix of St. Marcellus, and of Jesus and Mary of St. Giles.

(.3) Blue Penitents. — Among the confraternities of this group arc those of St. Joseph, St. Julian in Monte Giordano, Madonna del Giardino, Santa Maria in Caccab(Ti, etc. A number of these confraternities were established in France under the patronage of St. Jerome.

(4) Grey Penitents, including besides the Stigmati of St. Francis, the confraternities of St. Rose of Viterbo, The Holy Cross of Lucca, St. Rosaha of Palermo, St. Bartholomew, St. Alexander, etc.

(5) Refl Penitents, embracing the confraternities of Sts. Ursula and Catherine, the red robe being confined with a green cincture; St. Sebastian and St. Valentine, with a blue cincture; and the Quattro Coronati, with a white cincture, etc.

(6) Violet Penitents, the confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament at the Church of St. Andrea della Fratte, under the patronage of St. Francis of Paula.

(7) Green Penitents, including the confraternities of St. Rocco and St. Martin at Ripetto, for the care of the sick.

There are many other confraternities which cannot

be comprised within any of these groups, because of the combination of colours in their habits. The vari- ous confraternities were well represented in France from the thirteenth century on, reaching, perhaps, their most flourishing condition in the sixteenth cen- tury.

Bf^LTOT, Ordres reUgieux, III (Paris, 1859), 218; MOLINIBR, Institute et exerc. des confriries des pinitents.

Florence Rudge McGahan.

Penne and Atri, Diocese of (Pennensis et .4triensis). — Penne is a city in the Province of Teramo, in the .\bruzzi, central Italy; it has an important commerce in leather and in artificial flowers, and within its territory are several sjirings of medicinal waters, known to the ancients. It is t lie Piiniii Veslina of antiquity, the chief city of the Vest ini, disi inguished for its fidelity to Rome, even in the war of the Marsi. Sulla destroyed the city during the civil war. After the Lombard invasion, it belonged to the Duchy of Benevento, with which it was annexed to the Kingdom of Sicily. In the ninth century it was sacked by the Saracens. According to legend Patrassus, one of the seventy disciples, was the first bishop of this city. The deacon St. Maximus is venerated at the cathedral. The united See of Penne and Atri was erected in 11.52. Atri is the ancient Hadria of the Piceni, which became a Roman colony about 282 B. c; its ancient walla still remain. The cathedral is a fine specimen of the Italian Gothic, and has a campanile nearly 200 feet high. The first bishop of the united sees was Beroaldo; among his successors were : Blessed Anastasio, who died in 1215; the Cistercian Nicolo (1326), held a prisoner for two years by his canons; Tommaso Consuberi (1.5.54), suspected of having conspired against Pius IV, and therefore deposed ; Paolo Odescalchi (1586), nuncio to Madrid and Vienna, built the episcopal palace of Atri. Within the territory of these sees is the famous Abbey of San Bartolommeo di Carpineto.

The diocese is immediately subject to the Holy See; it has 95 parishes, 180,790 inhabitants, 4 religious houses of men, and 8 of women, and 4 educational establishments for girls.

Cappelletti, Le Chiese d" Italia, XXI; Pansa, Della diocesi e cMd. di Penne (1622).

U. Benigni.

Pennsylvania, one of the thirteen original United States .if AiMciua, lies between 39° 43' and 42° 15' N. latitude, and liilween the Delaware River on the east, and tlie eastern boundary of Ohio on the meridian 80° 36' W. longitude. It is 176 miles wide from north to south and about 303 miles long from east to west, containing 45,215 square miles, of which 230 are cov- ered by water. It has a shore fine on Lake Eric 45 miles in length, and is bounded by New York on the north. New Jersey on the east, Ohio and West Vir- ginia on the west, Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia on the south. It is the only one of the thir- teen original states having no sea coast. About one- third of the state is occupied by parallel ranges and valleys. The mountains average from 1000 to 2000 feet in height. The main ridge, highest on the east, is broken by the north and west branches of the Sus- quehanna River, which flows through the centre of the state. The Delaware, which is 400 miles in total length, beginning from its origin in Otsego Lake, New York, is navigaljle for a distance of 130 miles from the sea, and forms the eastern boundary of the state. In the west, the Allegheny ami Monongahela unite to form the Ohio. There is a wide range of climate within the geographical limits of the state.

I. History.— -Although Captain John Smith, in 1608, was the first white man to meet natives of Pennsylvania, which he did when he ascended Chesa- peake Bay, he never set foot within the limits of the present state. Henry Hudson, on 28 August, 1609,