A brief introduction to the foundation of the Oratory of the Onorati in Valletta

Abstract

Among the confraternities and congregations which map the history of lay a sociations in Valletta and the rest of Malta, one in particular stands out for the title by which its members were known: 'the Onorati'. The records of these associations open up a privileged window on the daily life of the laity, from the devotional to the artistic aspects, extending from the period of Catholic reform instituted by the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century to the Second Vatican Council, and beyond. The altar of the Onorati Oratory still holds the corposanto of Santa Onorata, but it was not these human remains that lent their name to the Congregation, but rather the other way round. [excerpt]