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Afriar is a member of one of themendicant orders in theCatholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within theEvangelical-Lutheran Churches andAnglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of asuperior general, from the oldermonastic orders' allegiance to a singlemonastery formalized by their vow of stability. A friar may be inholy orders or be a non-ordainedbrother. The most significant orders of friars are theDominicans,Franciscans,Augustinians, andCarmelites.[1]
Friars are different frommonks in that they are called to the greatevangelical counsels (vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience) in service to society, rather than throughcloisteredasceticism and devotion. Whereas monks live in a self-sufficient community, friars work among laypeople and are supported by donations or other charitable support.[2] Monks or nuns make their vows and commit to a particular community in a particular place. Friars commit to a community spread across a wider geographical area known as aprovince and so they will typically move around, spending time in different houses of the community within their province.
The English termfriar is derived from theNorman French wordfrere (brother), from theLatinfrater (brother), which was widely used in the LatinNew Testament to refer to members of the Christian community. Fray is sometimes used in Spain and former Spanish colonies such as thePhilippines or theAmerican Southwest as a title, such as inFray Juan de Torquemada.
In the Catholic church, there are two classes of orders known as friars, or mendicant orders: the four great orders and the so-called lesser orders.
The four great orders were mentioned by theSecond Council of Lyons (1274):
Some of the lesser orders are:
In theSovereign Military Order of Malta the term Fra' (an abbreviation for the Latin word "frater" meaning "brother") is used when addressing the professedKnights of Justice who have taken vows.
Orders of friars (and sisters) exist in other Christian traditions, including theOrder of Lutheran Franciscans, theOrder of Ecumenical Franciscans and the Order of Lesser Sisters and Brothers.[6] In the Anglican Communion there are also a number of mendicant groups such as theAnglican Friars Preachers, theSociety of Saint Francis and the Order of St Francis.[7]
Beginning under thePapacy ofGregory IX, friars of theDominican andFranciscan mendicant orders were asked to serve in armies as religious preachers and chaplains.[8] These roles were traditionally held byBishops during the early Middle Ages, but as European armies grew larger, they became unable to hear the confessions of thousands of soldiers[8] As both the Dominican and Franciscan orders grew in popularity after their acknowledgements by the Papacy in 1210 and 1216 respectively, the number of priests grew to support the needs of Ad Liberandum, thePapal bull which outlines the duties the Catholic priesthood performs during crusade. These duties included hearing confession, administering sacrament, and assigning penances.[8]
During the campaign ofWilliam II in Germany during the mid 1200's,Papal legate Reinerus of Viterbo wrote letters to popeInnocent IV, noting the lengths at which the mendicant friars would go to deliver the last rites to fallen soldiers, entering the battlefield even afterConrad IV ordered their execution upon capture.[8]
Philosopher and Dominican friarThomas Aquinas encouraged mendicants to provide spiritual support and guidance to soldiers on campaign, written in his work theSumma Theologiae.[8] Aquinas references theOld Testament, citing a chapter in thebook of Joshua where priests blow horns during battle.[8] Aquinas compares the blowing of the horns to the spiritual support that mendicants can provide to the soldiers, though he stressed that under no circumstances should a priest bear arms and participate in the conflict itself.[8]
Friars have also been known to act as agents of theinquisition, travelling to isolated regions and seeking out heretics[9] to be tried before secular or papal authorities. Dominican friars were most common of any mendicant order represented, likely as author Holly Grieco describes their founderSaint Dominic was known for his preaching against heretics in southernToulouse.[9] Greico further ascribes the Dominicans prominent inquisitorial presence to their particularly learned nature, allowing them to adequately convince laymen and reestablish papal doctrine.[9]
While many mendicant friars takevows of poverty, thepriories orconvents where they live, eat, and preach still require financial upkeep. Friars often sustain themselves on donations from a variety of people across the economic spectrum, from the common layman to the merchant class or even the nobility. Authors Tarryn Chub and Francisco García-Serrano articulate that friars in theMediterranean countries including Italy and Spain, played host to their various patrons to facilitate trade and economic growth.[10] Friars, particularly Franciscan and Dominican of merchant background, preached in favor of mercantilism as opposed to the traditionally hostile attitude of the Catholic church.[10] Notable proponents of mercantilism and commerce wereThomas Aquinas andRamón de Penyafort.[10]
In response to various political or religious events, Friars have been subjects to violence, mockery, and political oppression. Assaults on friars and other mendicant groups acrossEurope were stable yet infrequent in the lateMiddle Ages, most common in regions where friars acted inInquisitorial positions likenorthern Italy andsouthern France.[11] The majority of these assaults happened in urban areas, carried out in most part by mobs, not individuals.[11] though there were several cases to the contrary. Cases of friars and mendicants being assaulted on the roads were rare,[11] likely due in part to their impoverished lifestyle, and that monks would travel in groups when able.
Far more common than death or lasting harm, in unwelcome places monks were more commonly publicly mocked, shamed, or ignored.[11] In his travels toGermany, Franciscan chroniclerJordan of Giano writes of an incident where travelling friars were beaten, stripped of their clothes, and imprisoned before being mocked by the public.[11]
Violence against friars noticeably increases during periods of anti-Catholic sentiment and religious conflict.
In the late 1500's, the city ofGhent accused several mendicant Friars ofsodomy or homosexual behaviors.[12] Beginning in 1578, these trials would result in the incarceration, exile, and execution of more than a dozen friars. These trials were part of a larger anti-monastic sentiment across northernEurope and theHoly Roman Empire, in part spread by authorMartin Luther, who in several of his speeches and writings associated the Catholic clergy with the practice of sodomy.[12] This practice of association would be continued through following protestant writers by the likes ofHenri Estienne,John Bale andJohn Foxe.[12] Two years later in 1580, 5 friars were killed, and their monasteries were looted and burned after Calvinists took control of the city ofMalines.[12]
Severalhigh schools, as well asProvidence College, founded by the Dominicans, use friars as theirschool mascot.
TheMajor League Baseball teamSan Diego Padres have theSwinging Friar ("padre" is also a Spanish word for the priestly title "father"; in 1769San Diego was founded by SpanishFranciscan friars underJunípero Serra).
TheUniversity of Michigan's oldesta cappella group is a male octet known as The Friars.[13] TheUniversity of Pennsylvania has a seniorhonor society known as Friars. Sports teams atFather Dueñas Memorial School on the island ofGuam are known as the Friars.
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