Our Lady of Mount Carmel Fraternity (56-130)

Most High and Glorious God,
Bring Light to the Darkness of my Heart!
Give me Right Faith,
Certain Hope, and Perfect Charity.
Lord, Give me Insight and Wisdom
so I might always Discern
Your Holy and True Will.

The Tau

The last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the Tau, represented the fulfillment of the revealed word of God. Hebrew scriptures translated into Greek wrote T for Tau.

Francis could have worked with a religious community caring for lepers. These men wore the Greek T around their neck to ward off plagues and diseases. Francis is said to have used the T as his signature.

Pope Innocent III, who approved the Rule of St. Francis, quoted from Ezekiel at the Fourth Lateran Council: "We are called to reform our lives, to stand in the presence of God as righteous people. God will know us by the sign of the tau, T..." Francis told his friars that their habit is in the shape of a tau.

Candidates admitted into the Secular Franciscan Order, SFO, receive the Tau, the distinctive sign of the Order. The SFO Rule consists of a prologue and 26 articles in 3 chapters.

The picture of a Tau on this page adds a string with four knots to represent the SFO Rule:

Prologue (Concerning Those Who Do Penance and Concerning Those Who Do Not Do Penance)
Chapter 1 Articles 1- 3 (The Secular Franciscan Order)
Chapter 2 Articles 4-19 (The Way of Life)
Chapter 3 Articles 20-26 (Life in Fraternity)