Religious Orders and Plague Epidemics in Late Medieval and Renaissance Florence

Fourteenth and fifteenth century Florence represents a privileged vantage point to study the impact of endemic waves of bubonic plague on the different religious congregations in the city. This chapter discusses, on the one hand, how religious orders reacted to and coped with epidemic diseases and how they set about restoring the social fabric of their communities; and, on the other hand, the consequences of diseases on their spirituality and their role and involvement in public health. The reactions to the Black Death offer an instructive example of the ability of Florentine religious orders to resist and overcome crises. Religious congregations made continuous efforts to respond actively to membership losses, the deterioration of property, and changes in religious attitudes caused by the plague. In some cases, epidemic diseases contributed to the renewal of medical thought and to the evolution of public health measures. At the same time, the involvement of the community in religious processions and the pious rituals of the confraternities served not only as expressions of popular spirituality but as positive activities aimed to combat the effects of the plague.