Sodality
Sodality
In Brief
As Bloom walks into the nave of St. Andrew's he sees "Something
going on: some sodality." A hint to the sense of this
arcane word is suggested a few sentences later: "Women knelt
in the benches with crimson halters round their necks, heads
bowed. A batch knelt at the altarrails." Catholic sodalities
are fraternal organizations (Latin sodalis =
companion, fellow, comrade, member) formed for purposes of
devotion, charity, evangelism, and/or mutual assistance.
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The word has been used in Christian churches since ancient
times, with various meanings. In the Middle Ages it was
sometimes applied to monastic and mendicant orders, but in
recent times Catholic sodalities (and similar organizations:
"confraternities," "archconfraternities," "pious
associations") have been groups that, while under
ecclesiastical direction, include many lay worshipers. Some of
them have been in existence for centuries and have spread to
many different countries: the Sodality of Our Lady, also known
as the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was founded in
Rome by a Jesuit in 1563. Irish sodalities saw a surge of
interest in the second half of the 19th century, perhaps owing
in part to the increase in popular devotion spurred by the famine of the 1840s.
Sodality gatherings in Catholic churches are marked by the
display of colorful vestments and banners. The "crimson
halters" that Bloom notices in Lotus Eaters are
part of larger celebratory tableaux as described in Nausicaa:
"Gerty could picture the whole scene in the church, the
stained glass windows lighted up, the candles, the flowers and
the blue banners of the blessed Virgin’s sodality."
Source: catholicheritage.blogspot.com.