The word brotherhood as a general term can refer to a guild, brotherhood or gathering of people. For the Catholic religion, a brotherhood is the different ways in which the parishioners are associated, either publicly or privately, establishing themselves according to the precepts of the code of canon law.
Historically, the guilds were the first to emerge, these grouped various professional sectors and were in charge of the legislation and regulation of theatrical works. It should be noted that these first brotherhoods were created by bishops or kings.
Basically a brotherhood is an association made up of a specific number of people who come together under the same name and with specific objectives. Brotherhoods have always been linked to the Catholic religion, since they were created to worship God and the saints. In this sense, there are various types of brotherhoods: penitential brotherhoods are those that take place during Holy Week and that involve the practice of penance.
The sacramental brotherhoods, these are aimed at worship or devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. And finally there are the brotherhoods of glory, which promote the cult of a saint or a Marian invocation. Many of these brotherhoods usually organize, at least once a year, processions either alone or in conjunction with other brotherhoods.
Any Christian can belong to a brotherhood, he only needs the signature endorsement of a brother. The new members must participate in an act of admission, where the novice kisses the book of gospel rules, an act that affirms and renews his condition as a Christian, promising fidelity and service to said congregation.
It is important to point out that the brotherhoods are hierarchically organized, placing the members with more experience in the higher positions, who are responsible for making decisions within the group. For their part, the younger members are limited (for a certain time) to be part of the meetings, but without taking part in the decisions.
On many occasions the term brotherhood has been given a negative meaning, since they are usually seen as closed associations that do not show their objectives in a clear way, that are not open to the entire community and that generally move in closed contexts, all this creates a matrix of opinion that classifies them as religious fanatics.
