ESCEE.com - 2022 - El Rancho de las Golondrinas - 19/38
We next came to the Morada, a chapter house of the Penitentes, a fraternity of lay members of the Catholic Church dedicated to community service. In 1821, with Mexican independence, the Church withdrew its Franciscan priests from the state, and it fell to the lay Penitentes to provide spiritual aid to members of the community.