FRIARS PILGRIMS. — A medieval designation for the missionary friars of the Order of St. Dominic. Not belonging to any particular province, they were subject to their own vicar, who, as supreme head of the Dominican missions, governed the society in the name of the Master General.
Their origins date back to the early fourteenth century (1304?). The first vicar appears to have been Fra Franco of Perugia, who later (1 Apr. 1318) became Archbishop of Sultaniijah. The F. P. rendered great service to the Asian missions. Their principal convents were those of Pera, Caffa, Chios, and Trebisonda; they also maintained a fluctuating number of residences, i.e., missionary posts, especially in Armenia, Persia, and southern Russia.
After 1378 they spread also into Galicia, Podolia, and Moravia. In the early seventeenth century (1632) the ancient society of the F. P. took the name of Congregation of the Orient, with its principal seat at Constantinople. The definitive suppression occurred in 1857. The houses still in existence were then assigned to the modern province of St. Peter Martyr in Piedmont.