Chapel of the Black Penitents

Saint Francis of Assisi founded the Penitent Brothers in his wish to allow laymen — even married ones — to take part in the Franciscans’ mission as apostles while remaining in society.. In order to preserve their anonymity, the Brothers wore sackcloth and an ash-grey cowl. During the XIVth century, the Penitent brothers — like the Cordeliers —started to wear the black sackcloth of the monastics. A brotherhood of Black Penitents was set up in Valréas at the end of the XVIth century under the...