(Lat. frater; Ital. fra; Span. frayle or fray; Fr. frère; Celt. brair or srair; i.e. brother), an appellation common to monks of every order, but more particularly applied to those of the mendicant orders, of which the principal were the four following; 1. minors, grey friars, or Franciscans; 2. Augustines; 3. Dominicans, or black friars; 4. Carmelites, or white friars. The name is restricted to such monks as are not priests, the latter being usually dignified with the appellation of father.

FIARIS OBSERVANT (fratres observantes), a branch of the Franciscans who separated from the brethren of their order on the ground of laxity of discipline, and lived apart in places of their own choosing, simply agreeing among

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1. Chiefly at the instance of Sir John Herschel, as we learn from Dr Young's correspondence (Misc. Works, vol. i., p. 400). Young, speaking of himself, characteristically says, "I was obliged to be silent from being too much interested in the subject;" and in another letter to Fresnel himself, "I should also claim some right to participate in the compliment which is tacitly paid to myself in common with you by this adjudication; but considering that more than a quarter of a century is past since my principal experiments were made, I can only feel a sort of anticipation of posthumous fame which I have never particularly coveted."

2. Arago, Eloge de Fresnel, (Encrass, tom. i. themselves to observe the rules of their order more strictly than the conventuals did.