Monthly Spiritual Message, July 2025
By Br John Cooper OFM Cap.
THE SIGN OF THE TAU BECOMES THE SEAL OF SAINT FRANCIS:
After the 4th Lateran Council in 1215, Saint Francis began to use the Tau as his signature, or seal. The picture here of a blood-red Tau is said to have been scratched by Saint Francis on the wall of his cell at the hermitage of Fonte Colombo in the Rieti Valley. This is the hermitage where, in 1223, he wrote the Rule of the Friars, which received the seal of Pope Honorius III on November 29, 1223. For this reason, this hermitage is often referred to as the “Franciscan Sinai” by the friars.[1]
One year later, on September 14, 1224, St. Francis received the seal of God, the sacred Stigmata. From that moment, the friars were bound not only by the Rule but also by the example of Saint Francis.
SAINT ANTHONY ALSO USES THE TAU CROSS:
Saint Anthony of Padua was an extraordinary preacher with an exceptional memory, particularly for scripture. It was said that if all the Bibles in the world were destroyed, Anthony could rewrite the bible from memory. His sermons drew such large crowds that he had to speak outside of the churches in the town squares and sometimes even in the countryside. He often confronted those in power who mistreated people, as well as bishops who failed to minister to their flock. On occasion, he also had to deal directly with the devil himself, so he composed a special prayer of exorcism, now known as “St. Anthony’s Brief,” to be said when resisting the devil’s temptation. Holding up a Tau Cross, Saint Anthony shouted:
Behold the Cross of the Lord!
Be gone, you evil powers!
The Lion [2] of the tribe of Judah,
the root of David
has conquered.
Alleluia!
SAINT BONAVENTURE AND THE TAU:
Identifying the Cross of Christ with the “Tree of Life” gave it incredible mystical power because it echoed the biblical story in Genesis[3] that tells of the two trees in the “Garden of Paradise” that Adam and Eve were forbidden to touch.[4] These were “The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil” [5] and “The Tree of Immortal Life”.[6] In his work, “The Tree of Life”, St. Bonaventure proclaims: “O Cross, salvation-bearing tree!” For him, who is called the “Prince of Mystics”, the Cross of Christ becomes the Tree of Immortality. In his book, “The Tree of Life”, Bonaventure sets out for the friars a way of meditation on the life of Christ in Twelve Chapters, which he calls the “Fruits of the Tree of Life.” At the end of his text on the Eighth Fruit, he gives us this stunning prayer so that we may contemplate the crucifixion of Jesus:
O my God, good Jesus,
although I am in every way without merit and unworthy,
grant to me,
who did not merit to be present at these events in the body,
that I may ponder them faithfully in my mind
and experience towards you,
my God crucified and put to death for me,
that feeling of compassion
which your innocent mother and the penitent Magdalen experienced
at the very hour of your passion.
In the Prologue to his Life of Saint Francis, Saint Bonaventure identifies the brown robe of the friars with the Cross of Christ and the mark of the Tau:
We can come to the conclusion, without any doubt,
that this messenger of God – so worthy to be loved by Christ,
imitated by us and admired by the world –
was God’s servant Francis,
if we consider the height of his extraordinary sanctity.
For even while he lived among men,
he imitated angelic purity
so that he was held up as an example
for those who would be perfect followers of Christ.
We are led to hold this firmly and devoutly because of his ministry
to call men to weep and mourn, to shave their heads, and to put on sackcloth,[7]
and to mark with a Tau the foreheads of men who mourn and grieve,
signing them with the cross of penance
and clothing them with his habit,
which is in the form of a cross.
But even more, is this confirmed
with the irrefutable testimony of truth
by the seal of the likeness of the living God,
namely of Christ Crucified, [8]
which was imprinted on his body
not by natural forces or human skill
but by the wonderous power
of the Spirit of the living God.[9]
To be continued …
Br John Cooper OFM Cap
National Spiritual Assistant
[1] The Hermitage of Fonte Colombo (Fountain of the Doves) is also where the doctor tried to cure St Francis’ increasing blindness by searing his temples with a hot iron. Medieval medicine was, in some ways, barbaric. It was thought at the time that somehow this method could shock the eye into clarity of vision. They believed we saw things because a beam or ray of light went out from the eye and captured images that this beam of light brought back to the brain.
[2] The title “The Lion of the tribe of Judah” was a royal title that referred to King David and King Solomon, but Saint Anthony understood it to be more properly applied as a title for Christ. Used in this context of an exorcism a blessed wooden Tau Cross becomes a protection as well as a blessing. This is also demonstrated by the fact that these words of St Anthony were later inscribed by Pope Sixtus V (1520 – 1590), a Franciscan, on the obelisk he erected in the piazza before St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The words are applied to the relic of the Holy Cross, but also to any blessed wooden cross including a wooden Tau Cross.
[3] Genesis Ch. 2:5 to Ch. 3:1- 24 tells the oldest Creation Story in the Bible. This story comes from the Yahweh source that goes way back to the time of Abraham who is estimated to have been born about 1800 BC.
[4] Genesis 3:22-24 “He must not be allowed to stretch out his hand next and pick from the Tree of Life also, and eat some, and live forever.”
[5] Not identified as an apple tree but traditionally labelled so, the point being that they were specifically told not to eat the fruit of that tree and, in defying the ban, learned how it felt to be guilty of sin.
[6] Having lost their naivety and attained the knowledge of good and evil God decides that Adam and Eve could no longer be trusted to leave alone the “Tree of immortality” so they are cast out of the Garden of Eden and Cherubim and a flaming sword are set to guard the gates of paradise and keep safe the Tree of Immortality.
[7] Isiah 22:12. “The Lord God called you that day to weep and mourn, to shave your heads, to put on sackcloth, instead there is joy and amusement… ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may be dead’ My ears have had this revelation from God: ‘Most certainly this sin will not be atoned for until you die’, says the Lord our God.”
[8] 1 Corinthians 2:2: “During my stay with you, the only knowledge I claimed to have was about Jesus, and only about him as the crucified Christ.”
[9] 1 Corinthians 2:4 “…a demonstration of the power of the Spirit.”
