Talk:misericordia

RFV discussion: December 2021
rfv-sense: An indulgence as to food or dress granted to a member of a religious order. Notusbutthem (talk) 16:15, 8 December 2021 (UTC)


 * I can't find any cites of this, but I did find cites referring to a type of charitable institution, although mostly either diacriticked or capitalized (or italicized): Citations:misericordia. - -sche (discuss) 21:54, 8 December 2021 (UTC)


 * The term has the meaning of a dispensation of some precept in the Latin of Roman Catholic Canon Law, a dispensation granted because of the harshness of the precept. This could include the challenged sense. But is it English? See the use here, “ the misericordia should also apply contra legem ”, where the term is not marked by italics as an instance of code switching, but this seems to be a singular oversight: everywhere else in the book it is marked. --Lambiam 19:58, 10 December 2021 (UTC)

cited Kiwima (talk) 02:38, 22 December 2021 (UTC)


 * Impressive! The definition seems to need to be changed to fit the cites (or vice versa), though; in "the misericordia house" and "the privilege of dining in 'Misericordia,' where a more generous diet was provided than in the ordinary 'Refectory'", it seems to mean ... an institution(?) within a religious order, in or by which better food was served, and "the misericordia, or superior dishes or dinners" seems to say it means the better food itself; maybe define it as "An institution within a religious order, in which members were granted (by dispensation) better food, or the food thus offered."? The "Could we have a Misericordia" cite seems like it's referring to the charitable institutio, unless there's more to the context? In my own earlier search I read that towns were eager to boast having a Misericordia charitable institution, and some were set up (unofficially?) even outside the jurisdiction of Portugal or Spain. - -sche (discuss) 05:42, 24 December 2021 (UTC)
 * I think you are confusing two things. There is the charitable institution, but there is also the misericordia within a monastery. The misericordia within a monastery was sometimes just to provide special, enhanced diet to sick brothers or elite brothers, sometimes for additional dispensations for some specific reason - and these often used a misericordia room. In later years, some orders made changes to be more equitable, distributing the misericordia privileges to all the brothers. As for the 1934 quote, you might be right. It was the first one I found looking for this sense, and it made sense then, but now, I agree, it might just be referring to a modified version of the charitable institution. Kiwima (talk) 20:00, 24 December 2021 (UTC)

RFV-passed Kiwima (talk) 20:15, 31 December 2021 (UTC)

Black Death
The dagger sense is used, and the meaning of the word explained, in the 2010 British historical fantasy film Black Death. --Overlordnat1 (talk) 20:31, 6 June 2023 (UTC)