friars

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Scope note
The term derives from the Latin "frater," the title by which early Christians customarily addressed each other. From the end of the 13th century, it referred to the members of the mendicant orders. Friars are distinguished from "monks" in that friars focus on a sacred ministry of preaching, mixing with their fellow men in the world, soliciting alms, and moving from place to place, while monks live in seclusion in a fixed place; in addition friars' orders originally could possess no fixed revenues, but lived upon the voluntary offerings of the faithful, while the orders of monks could possess property and revenues, although the individual monks took vows of poverty. The orders of friars are usually divided into two classes, the four great orders mentioned by the Second Council of Lyons, Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites, and Augustinians, and the lesser orders.
friars
Accepted term: 02-Sep-2024