lives. our of end

hope, a witness of fidelity till the the till fidelity of witness a hope,

The sign of contradiction has become a sign of of sign a become has contradiction of sign The

last. the until lives our throughout GOD to

sacrificing love. love. sacrificing - self daily through evil

meant that we were admonished to be faithful faithful be to admonished were we that meant

remembrance of the Victory of Christ over over Christ of Victory the of remembrance

TAU, the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, alphabet, Hebrew the of letter last the ,

sign, a “seal” of their commitment, a a commitment, their of “seal” a sign,

In Old Testament times the image of the the of image the times Testament Old In

religious, wear the TAU cross as an exterior exterior an as cross TAU the wear religious,

Today, followers of Francis, laity as well as as well as laity Francis, of followers Today,

it.” in practices

who grieve and lament over all the loathsome loathsome the all over lament and grieve who

signature. his as TAU

lem, and mark a cross on the foreheads of all all of foreheads the on cross a mark and lem,

his name, Francis would use the sign of the the of sign the use would Francis name, his

“go all through the city, and through Jerusa- through and city, the through all “go

day forward, instead of signing signing of instead forward, day

him, to this said Ezekial...Yahweh Prophet

cross of Christ and from that that from and Christ of cross

(Hebrew letter “T”) as taken from the the from taken as “T”) letter (Hebrew

easily be identified with the the with identified be easily

Testament image of the TAU TAU the of image Testament

an Council. The TAU could could TAU The Council. an

Pope opened the Council by recalling the Old Old the recalling by Council the opened Pope

attendance at the Fourth Later- Fourth the at attendance

Church...the Fourth Lateran Council. The The Council. Lateran Fourth Church...the

St. Francis, who was in in was who Francis, St.

a great reform of the Roman Catholic Catholic Roman the of reform great a

immediately taken to heart by by heart to taken immediately

In the year 1215, Pope Innocent III called for for called III Innocent Pope 1215, year the In

This symbolic image was was image symbolic This

Up to the year 1508 Third Order members wore a habit. After 1508 the use of a habit was changed to the wearing of a large scapular The Franciscan Tau Cross (two large pieces of cloth worn front and back) (An Explanation) that were held together by a piece of rope worn around the waist. The scapular part be- came smaller until it became two small pieces of cloth held together with string and worn around the neck. The rope around the waist no longer served a practical purpose and was replaced with a string that was worn around the waist and under the outer clothes of a Lay Third Order member. At that point in time the original intent of the scapular, with cord to hold it together, became obsolete. After 1978 (the time of the updated Pauline Rule) the habit for Secular was changed from the smaller scapular and cord to the TAU CROSS.

(Made by Lesley V. for St. Anthony of Padua Fraternity Boynton Beach, Florida)