The sign is in Chalabre, on a narrow street leading to the covered market square. The limited information I can glean about the White Penitents is that they were one sect of many brotherhoods, ultimately distinguished primarily by the color of their cloak and hood as well as the nature of their charitable work. They were present in Spain, Italy, Portugal and France from the 12th century on. There are references that the intensity of their zeal included wearing hair cloths and self-flagellation as daily ritual.
Sign of an Earlier Time
The sign is in Chalabre, on a narrow street leading to the covered market square. The limited information I can glean about the White Penitents is that they were one sect of many brotherhoods, ultimately distinguished primarily by the color of their cloak and hood as well as the nature of their charitable work. They were present in Spain, Italy, Portugal and France from the 12th century on. There are references that the intensity of their zeal included wearing hair cloths and self-flagellation as daily ritual.