Definition of "fra"

You have at Naples your Fra Bernardino; / And I at Fondi have my Fra Bastiano, / The famous artist, who has come from Rome / To paint my portrait.

a. 1883 (date written; first published 1883 January), Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Prologue at Ischia”, in Michael Angelo: A Dramatic Poem, Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], published 1884, part first, page 9

The writer has spoken to his two companions, Fathers Eliseus and Elias, desiring them to go, if only to gather intelligence about those parts; but both are of one mind that the basis of operations, as laid down by Fra Simon, is not substantiated […]

1908, Thomas Hughes, History of the Society of Jesus in North America

"She is in the hands of Mrs. Coulter," said Fra Pavel.

2000, Philip Pullman, The Amber Spyglass