"A Frate della Misericordia. MISERICORDIA, the name of a society (of laymen) in Florence, founded in the 13th century, who tend the poor sick, carry victims of accident or disease to the hospitals, and the dead to their burial. Members of all classes of the community, including the highest, are enrolled in this charitable association; and their somber and forbidding costume-- a dark monastic dress, with the cowl pulled down over the face so that the eyes merely peep through little holes." -Hazeltine, 1894

Frate della Misericordia

"A Frate della Misericordia. MISERICORDIA, the name of a society (of laymen) in Florence, founded in…