A fraternal organization, or fraternity, is an organization, society, club or fraternal order, traditionally of men but also of women, associated together for religious or secular aims. The Western concept developed in a Christian context, notably through the religious orders of the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages, and was extended through medieval confraternities and guilds before early modern fraternal orders such as the Freemasons, the Rosicrucian Society of England and the Odd Fellows, alongside gentlemen's clubs, student fraternities and fraternal service organizations.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
The confraternity is an earlier, religiously oriented form of the same voluntary fraternal-association pattern later secularized in fraternal organizations.
Freemasonry is the most prominent historical example of the fraternal organization form.
Sources
Fraternity (Wikipedia)
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A fraternity or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club or fraternal order traditionally of men but also women associated together for various religious or secular aims.
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