fra

[Italian, for frate =brother, monk.] (See etymology.) fra de diavolo, s . [Ital. brother of the devil.] Ecclesiology : The devil's advocate ( Advocatus diaboli ), the advocate who, when the canonization of a saint by the pope is proposed, is appointed to urge all that he justly can against the character of the person whom it is contemplated to honor, and give reasons why the canonization should not be carried out. The analogy between this functionary and the devil is that both are accusers of the brethren (cf. Rev. xii. 10), and that diabolos in Greek properly means a slanderer; the difference lies in their motives.