A brother or member of any religious order, but especially of one of the four mendicant orders, viz: (a) Minors, Gray Friars, or Franciscans. (b) Augustines. (c) Dominicans or Black Friars. (d) White Friars or Carmelites. See these names in the Vocabulary.
A term derived from the Latin frater meaning brother, which came into common usage during the Middle Ages especially with the rise of the Mendicant* movement.
A member of any mendicant order of the Roman Catholic Church, such as an Augustinian, Carmelite, Dominican (Black Friar), or Franciscan; a monk who makes his livelihood by toil or begging. A friary is a place where friars live, such as a monastery. Friar Minor is a member of the Franciscan order which follows the original rules of Francis of Assisi.
a male member of a religious order that originally relied soley on alms
a member of a mendicant itinerant order -- the four big ones are the Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians, and Carmelites
A friar, from the Latin 'frater' meaning brother, is a priest or brother member of a religious community of men who live in a friary and belong to the tradition of religious orders of friars within the Church.