FRIAR, from the Latin frater through the French frère (Ital. frate or fra, Span, frayle or fray), a secondary form of a word which is common to all the Aryan languages, is a name commonly applied in English to any lay member of any mendicant order. One who has received ordination is usually dignified with the appellation of father. The church of Rome at present recognizes a considerable number of mendicant orders; but at the time when the word first became current in England, there were practically only four, namely, those which alone had been sanctioned by Pope Gregory X. at the second council of Lyons in 1274. They were the Eremite or Austin Friars, the Carmelites or White Friars, the Dominicans or Black Friars (sometimes also called preaching friars), and the Franciscans, Minors, or Grey Friars. For some estimate of the influence of these begging friars on the intellectual and social life of England, see England, vol. viii. 316, 317. They were first brought into Scotland during the reign of Alexander II., but for many years afterwards were subject to the provincials in England. The “Trinity Friars” also had a monastery at Fail in Kyle (Ayrshire); and their provincial had at one time a seat, in virtue of his office, in the Scottish Parliament. Members of the same order, popularly known as “crouched friars” or cross-bearers (fratres cruciferi), began to appear in England also about the year 1244, and occasional reference is made to them in various ecclesiastical constitutions of that and of the following century; but they never attained to any great importance. See Monachism, Carmelites, Dominicans, Franciscans.