Orfanaggi e maritaggi in diocesi di Nardò tra Cinque e Seicento

Among the various practices of corporal mercy, sanctified by the Catholic catechism, one in force in the Middle Ages and later in the following centuries is the establishment of the "Monte delle Orfane" (lit. Orphans' Mount), also known as "orfanaggi" or "maritaggi". It was an institution of popular piety with a social value covering girls known as "orphan spinsters", whose social condition did not allow them to marry. Francesco Potenza's essay is a short version of a larger study on this institution and examines some documents preserved in "Don Giuseppe Leante" Archive, at the collegiate church in Galatone. The results of the study show names, places of selection and ways of assignment of dowry for the sake of the orphans. The sources include marriage acts from the mother church of Galatone, analysed in order to define the annual flow of marriages in the period when there existed the "Monte delle orfane" institutions: the study shows that one sixth of the marriages celebrated in the decade under examination took part by the support of the institution. In appendix, there is also an unpublished list of the priors general of the Monastery of Dominican Order and of the treasurers of Galatone City from 1638 to 1805, extracted by Nicolò Palma and Gian Domenico De Magistris's bequests.