As a sign of our witness, we wear the Franciscan habit. We begin to wear the habit as novices. The habit, following after St. Francis’ own example, is in the form of a cross, and reminds us daily to conform our lives to that of Jesus Christ.
Every member wears the San Damiano Cross, a Cross depicting Christ Risen from the dead, surrounded by those who were present at the Crucifixion and other key figures in Salvation History. This cross was the one from which St. Francis heard Jesus speak to him while praying at San Damiano Church at the beginning of his conversion. Wearing the San Damiano Cross also reminds us of our obligation to help rebuild the Church as the Lord commissioned St. Francis to do 800 years ago.
During the novitiate, the sisters wear a white veil and both the friars and sisters wear a cord with no knots. Upon professing First Vows, the sister or friar will begin to wear a cord with knots, symbolizing the three vows she or he professes: poverty, chastity and obedience. Sisters will wear the black veil as a sign of their consecration.
Both the friars and sisters wear the Rosary, which is attached to their cord. The Crucifix on our Rosary is a replica of St. John Paul II’s Papal Crucifix, reminding us of the tremendous sacrifice of Christ on the Cross and of St. John Paul’s beautiful teaching on human sexuality presented in the Theology of the Body. As Franciscan friars and sisters, we strive to live as brothers and sisters in Christ as a witness to the complementarity of men and women, always mindful of maintaining holy, healthy boundaries both in community and among those with whom we work and serve.
When he heard that Christ’s disciples should not possess gold or silver or money, or carry on their journey a waller or a sack, nor bread nor a staff, nor to have shoes nor two tunics, but that they should preach the kingdom of God and penance, the holy man, Francis, immediately exulted in the spirt of God, “This is what I want,” he said, “this is what I seek, this is what I desire with all my heart.” … Immediately, he took off the shoes from his feet, put down the staff from his hands, and, satisfied with one tunic, exchanged his leather belt for a cord. After this, he made for himself a tunic showing the image of the cross.
First Life of St. Francis by Thomas Celano, chapter ix