Resumen de Forme di patrocinio, carità e fondazioni religiose femminili in Sicilia fra XIII e XIV secolo
In the Middle Ages the duty to fulfil the works of mercy laid especially upon women. Charity allowed them to obtain prayers and masses for themselves, their parents and relativies. Women left precise instructions in their wills for alms to beggars, old people, and orphans. After the Vespers (1282) noblewomen took an active part in the foundation and endowment of convents. At the end on the XIIIth century Marchisa Prefolio, wife of Federico Chiaromonte, founded in Agrigento the Cistercian convent of St. Spirit. In 1310 Benvenuta Mastrangelo, widow of Guglielmo Aldobrandeschi, Earl of Santa Fiora, ordered to found the convent of St. Catherine.
