Unitarian Brothers

FRATELLI UNITORI. - Armenian religious (Elbarg Miabanolq), founded in the first half of the fourteenth century by Giovanni da Qina, converted to the Catholic faith by the Dominican bishop Bartolomeo da Bologna. The purpose of the Institute was the union of the Armenian Church with the Holy See of Rome. The F. U. followed the rule of St. Augustine and, for the most part, the constitutions of the Preachers. They dressed as Dominican tertiaries and in 1337 also adopted the Dominican rite, while retaining Armenian as their liturgical language.

The beginnings of the Congregation and its papal approval date back to the year 1331, but the profession of its founders appears to have taken place only in 1344. In 1356 the F. U. were placed under the jurisdiction of the master general of the Dominicans, and in 1583 their Congregation was transformed into an Armenian province of the Order of Preachers, which became extinct at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The Institute of the F. U. spread chiefly in eastern Armenia, Georgia, Persia, and Crimea. Many bishops, archbishops, and martyrs came from II. In the literary field, the F. U. distinguished themselves by their translations of Catholic theological works into Armenian.