Friar

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A group of friars; novices of the Order of Augustinian Recollects at the Monastery of Monteagudo in 2006 Agustinos Recoletos.jpg
A group of friars; novices of the Order of Augustinian Recollects at the Monastery of Monteagudo in 2006

A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders of the Roman Catholic church. There are also friars outside of the Roman Catholic church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 17th century, distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the older monastic orders' allegiance to a single monastery formalized by their vow of stability. A friar may be in holy orders or be a non-ordained brother. The most significant orders of friars are the Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians, and Carmelites. [1]

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Definition

Friars are different from monks in that they are called to the great evangelical counsels (vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience) in service to society, rather than through cloistered asceticism 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 a province and so they will typically move around, spending time in different houses of the community within their province.

Etymology

The English term friar is derived from the Norman French word frere (brother), from the Latin frater (brother), which was widely used in the Latin New Testament to refer to members of the Christian community. Fray is sometimes used in Spain and former Spanish colonies such as the Philippines or the American Southwest as a title, such as in Fray Juan de Torquemada.

Orders

In the Roman Catholic church, there are two classes of orders known as friars, or mendicant orders: the four great orders and the so-called lesser orders.

Major orders

The four great orders were mentioned by the Second Council of Lyons (1274):

Conventual Franciscans in their variant grey habits Friars.jpg
Conventual Franciscans in their variant grey habits

Lesser orders

Some of the lesser orders are:

Order of Malta

In the Sovereign Military Order of Malta the term Fra' (an abbreviation for the Latin word "frater" meaning "brother") is used when addressing the professed Knights of Justice who have taken vows.

Other Christian traditions

Orders of friars (and sisters) exist in other Christian traditions, including the Order of Lutheran Franciscans, the Order 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 the Anglican Friars Preachers, the Society of Saint Francis and the Order of St Francis. [7]

Other usage of the term

Several high schools, as well as Providence College, use friars as their school mascot.

The Major League Baseball team San Diego Padres have the Swinging Friar ("padre" is also a Spanish word for the priestly title "father"; in 1769 San Diego was founded by Spanish Franciscan friars under Junípero Serra).

The University of Michigan's oldest a cappella group is a male octet known as The Friars. [8] The University of Pennsylvania has a senior honor society known as Friars. Sports teams at Father Dueñas Memorial School on the island of Guam are known as the Friars.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carmelites</span> Roman Catholic religious order

The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a Roman Catholic mendicant religious order for men and women. Historical records about its origin remain uncertain, but it was probably founded in the 12th century on Mount Carmel in the Crusader States. Berthold of Calabria, as well as Albert of Vercelli, have traditionally been associated with the founding of the order, but few clear records of early Carmelite history have survived. The order of Carmelite nuns was formalised in 1452.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franciscans</span> Group of religious orders within the Catholic Church

The Franciscans are a group of related mendicant Christian religious orders within the Christian tradition. Founded in 1209 by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi, these orders include three independent orders for men, orders for nuns such as the Order of Saint Clare, and the Third Order of Saint Francis open to male and female members. They adhere to the teachings and spiritual disciplines of the founder and of his main associates and followers, such as Clare of Assisi, Anthony of Padua, and Elizabeth of Hungary. Several smaller Protestant Franciscan orders exist as well, notably in the Anglican and Lutheran traditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Convent</span> Religious community

A convent is a community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, convent means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican Communion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augustinians</span> Members of religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine

Augustinians are members of several religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about 400 AD by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13th centuries:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mendicant orders</span> Type of religious lifestyle

Mendicant orders are, primarily, certain Roman Catholic religious orders that have adopted for their male members a lifestyle of poverty, traveling, and living in urban areas for purposes of preaching, evangelization, and ministry, especially to the poor. At their foundation these orders rejected the previously established monastic model. This model prescribed living in one stable, isolated community where members worked at a trade and owned property in common, including land, buildings and other wealth. By contrast, the mendicants avoided owning property at all, did not work at a trade, and embraced a poor, often itinerant lifestyle. They depended for their survival on the goodwill of the people to whom they preached. The members of these orders are not called monks but friars.

A provincial superior is an officer of a religious institute acting under the institute's Superior General. A provincial superior exercises general supervision over all the members of that institute in a territorial division of the order called a province, which is similar to, but not to be confused with, an ecclesiastical province. Instead, the province under a provincial superior is one made up of particular churches or dioceses under the supervision of a Metropolitan Bishop. The division of a religious institute into provinces is generally along geographical lines and may consist of one or more countries, or of only a part of a country. There may be, however, one or more houses of one province situated within the physical territory of another since the jurisdiction over the individual religious is personal, rather than territorial. The title of the office is often abbreviated to Provincial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Third order</span> Type of Christian religious order

The term third order signifies, in general, lay members of Christian religious orders, who do not necessarily live in a religious community such as a monastery or a nunnery, and yet can claim to wear the religious habit and participate in the good works of a great order. Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism and Anglicanism all recognize third orders.

A religious is, in the terminology of many Western Christian denominations, such as the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches, and Anglican Communion, what in common language one would call a "monk" or "nun".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Discalced Augustinians</span> Religious lifestyle that branched off from the Order of Saint Augustine

The Order of Discalced Augustinians is a mendicant order that branched off from the Order of Saint Augustine as a reform movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican religious order</span> Community in the Anglican Communion living under a common rule of life

Anglican religious orders are communities of men or women in the Anglican Communion who live under a common rule of life. The members of religious orders take vows which often include the traditional monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, or the ancient vow of stability, or sometimes a modern interpretation of some or all of these vows. Members may be laity or clergy, but most commonly include a mixture of both. They lead a common life of work and prayer, sometimes on a single site, sometimes spread over multiple locations. Though many Anglicans are members of religious orders recognized by the Anglican Communion, others may be members of ecumenical Protestant or Old Catholic religious orders while maintaining their Anglican identity and parochial membership in Anglican churches.

The Third Order of Saint Francis is a third order in the Franciscan tradition of Christianity, founded by the medieval Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enclosed religious orders</span> Christian religious orders separated from the external world

Enclosed religious orders or cloistered clergy are religious orders whose members strictly separate themselves from the affairs of the external world. In the Catholic Church, enclosure is regulated by the code of canon law, either the Latin code or the Oriental code, and also by the constitutions of the specific order. It is practised with a variety of customs according to the nature and charism of the community in question. This separation may involve physical barriers such as walls and grilles, with entry restricted for other people and certain areas exclusively permitted to the members of the convent. Outsiders may only temporarily enter this area under certain conditions. The intended purpose for such enclosure is to prevent distraction from prayer and the religious life and to keep an atmosphere of silence.

Independent Augustinian communities are Roman Catholic religious communities that follow the Augustinian Rule, but are not under the jurisdiction of the Prior General of the Augustinian hermits in Rome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Order of Augustinian Recollects</span> Mendicant Catholic religious order of friars and nuns

The Order of Augustinian Recollects (OAR) is a mendicant Catholic religious order of friars and nuns. It is a reformist offshoot from the Augustinian hermit friars and follows the same Rule of St. Augustine. They have also been known as the "Discalced Augustinians".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Order of Saint Augustine</span> Catholic order of mendicant friars

The Order of Saint Augustine, abbreviated OSA, is a religious mendicant order of the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1244 by bringing together several eremitical groups in the Tuscany region who were following the Rule of Saint Augustine, written by Saint Augustine of Hippo in the fifth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augustinian nuns</span>

Augustinian nuns are the most ancient and continuous segment of the Roman Catholic Augustinian religious order under the canons of contemporary historical method. The Augustinian nuns, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo, are several Roman Catholic enclosed monastic communities of women living according to a guide to religious life known as the Rule of St. Augustine. Prominent Augustinian nuns include Italian mystic St. Clare of Montefalco and St. Rita of Cascia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franciscan spirituality in Protestantism</span> Influence of the spirituality of Catholic saint Francis in Protestant Christians

Emerging since the 19th century, there are several Protestant adherent and groups, sometimes organised as religious orders, which strive to adhere to the teachings and spiritual disciplines of Saint Francis of Assisi.

"A religious institute is a society in which members, according to proper law, pronounce public vows, either perpetual or temporary which are to be renewed, however, when the period of time has elapsed, and lead a life of brothers or sisters in common."

When referring to Roman Catholic religious orders, the term Second Order refers to those communities of contemplative cloistered nuns which are a part of the religious orders that developed in the Middle Ages.

References

  1. Stravinskas, Peter M.J., ed. (2002). Catholic Dictionary, Revised. Huntington, IN: Our Friday Visitor. ISBN   978-0879733902.
  2. Catholic encyclopedia entry for "friar"
  3. The Carmelite Order
  4. "Is a Friar a Priest or a Brother?", Franciscan Friars, Province of Saint Barbara
  5. "Communities". naecc. Retrieved 2024-02-08.
  6. Order of Lesser Sisters and Brothers
  7. "Order of St Francis". Archived from the original on 2020-09-22. Retrieved 2017-07-02.
  8. "The University of Michigan Friars :: History". University of Michigan Friars. Archived from the original on 31 August 2010. Retrieved 1 October 2010.