BROTHER was also used by writers of the middle ages for a comes, or governor of a province. It is sometimes used to denote a person of the same profession; and is also a
customary term by which priests of the same persuasion address one another. Preachers, too, address their hearers as my brethren. This appellation is borrowed from the primitive Christians, who all called each other brothers. Brother is likewise an appellation more peculiarly given to certain orders of religious. In the military orders the knights are also called brothers; and in the order of Malta there was a particular class who are called zeering brothers (fratres clientes), consisting of such as cannot give proof of their nobility.