The Secular Franciscan Habit 

While looking through my site's referrer logs, it seems that folks doing searches for "Secular Franciscan habit" have been pointed to my li'l blog. However, I don't actually have anything here that describes our habits as such, which I'm remedying forthwith. :-)

So, do we wear habits? Yes, Secular Franciscans do wear habits, and we always have!

The Habit

Upon entering Candidacy (novitiate), a secular is clothed in our Order's habit, which -- in the U.S. -- is a Tau cross pendant, like what you see on the left. It's always to be worn in some way, whether as a pendant (preferred) or pin, ring, or some other form. The image is composed of two parts, the Tau and the Conformity.

The Tau. While the Tau represents Christ's cross, it's also the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet and gained special significance in the Old Testament through Ezekiel 9:4: "Pass through the city (through Jerusalem) and mark an X [Tau] on the foreheads of those who moan and groan over all the abominations that are practiced within it."

At the Fourth Lateran Council -- at which Francis was said to be in attendance -- Pope Innocent III used Ezekiel's Tau imagery in his opening homily, and the Tau became the symbol for the council. From then on, Francis used the Tau in his writings, painted it on the walls and doors of the places where he stayed, and used it as his signature.

It's also said that St. Francis borrowed the Tau and what it meant to him from the Antonines, a religious community of men founded in 1095 whose sole function was to care for the sick, and on whose habit was painted a great Tau cross. Francis was familiar with these men because they staffed the leper house in Assisi and the hospital of St. Blasé in Rome where Francis went to stay.

St. Bonaventure said, "This Tau symbol had all the veneration and all the devotion of the saint: He spoke of it often in order to recommend it, and he traced it on himself before beginning each of his actions." Due to Francis' affection for and devotion to the Tau, it's been a well-recognized and accepted Franciscan symbol for centuries.

The Conformity. On top of the Tau are the crossed arms of Christ and Francis, which is called the "conformity". Christ's bare arm is in front of Francis' clothed arm; Christ's hand has the wound from His Crucifixion; Francis' has the stigmata.

While this is what we currently wear, our habit has changed throughout history.

History

Up until 1508, Secular Franciscans wore full habits. Then this changed to a large scapular held together by a piece of rope around the waist. Over time, the scapular became smaller until the rope was no longer needed to hold it in place and was was replaced by a string, and both were then worn underneath clothing.

With the revision of our Rule in 1978, our habit changed from the small scapular and string to -- in the U.S., at least -- the Tau cross.

Additional Reading

The Five Franciscan Martyrs Region (U.S.): The Franciscan Tau Symbol

Labels: franciscan, sfo, st. francis

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posted by Lisa, sfo | Permalink