Character of Penitents
- Attire – tunic, walking-stick, cincture (belt), knapsack, sandals; symbol was often a Tau Cross after St. Anthony of the Desert.
- Charitable works – most often in hospitals and hospices and leprosaria (hospitalers); restoring churches and burying the dead.
- Life of Prayer.
- Abstinence – from feasts and shows and dances, avoidance of drunkenness and gluttony.
- Prohibited from public office or from riding horses.
- Forbidden to take up arms or to take an oath.
Read more about this topic: Order Of Penitents
Famous quotes containing the words character of, character and/or penitents:
“Modern thought has transferred the spectral character of Death to the notion of time itself. Time has become Death triumphant over all.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)
“When one walks, one is brought into touch first of all with the essential relations between one’s physical powers and the character of the country; one is compelled to see it as its natives do. Then every man one meets is an individual. One is no longer regarded by the whole population as an unapproachable and uninteresting animal to be cheated and robbed.”
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947)
“And this school wasn’t keeping anymore,
Unless for penitents who took their seat
Upon its doorsteps as at mercy’s feet
To make up for a lack of meditation.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)