The Tau Cross
“And the Lord said to him: Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem: and mark Thau upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and mourn for all the abominations that are committed in the midst.” (Ezechiel 9: 4).
Thau is the last letter in the Hebrew alphabet and signifies a sign, or mark. St. Jerome and other interpreters think that the ancient Hebrew character had the form of a cross.
We see the Tau as a symbol of penance, of mercy and of preservation, as it had been a sign of mercy for Cain.
Pope Innocent said, “the Tau has exactly the same form as the cross to which Christ was nailed. It is only through the sign of the cross and the mortification of the flesh that people will obtain mercy and accept the life of the Crucified.”
Pope Innocent had invoked the 4th Lateran Council, and had called upon all Christians to accept the Tau as a sign of the urgent need for spiritual renewal in the Church. He proclaimed the Tau to be a sign of humility because it is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
St. Francis eagerly accepted this and at once made the Tau the symbol of his Orders. He traced it on himself before beginning each of his actions. He preferred it above all other symbols. He used it as his signature for his letters and writings. To Brother Leo he wrote: “May the lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord show His face to you and be merciful to you. May the lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.” And he added, “God bless you, Brother Leo!” and he sketched an image and drew a Tau over it as his signature. (See page 87)
Brother Leo wrote under Francis’ signature, “This blessing was given to me, Brother Leo, by the blessed Francis, who wrote it in his own hand, and it is also his hand that drew the image and the Tau.” This original letter of St. Francis to Brother Leo is one of three handwritings still in existence.
Francis painted the Tau on the walls of his brothers cells. On our pilgrimage to Assisi we saw one that he had painted in the small chapel of St. Mary Magdalene, at Fonto Colombo, where we had Mass on Ascension Thursday. This little chapel was built in the 12th Century. The Tau was up front, on the left wall near a window and was discovered in the early 1920’s when the window was unblocked and opened to view after having been hidden for centuries.
A miracle is told by Thomas of Celano about a man who, after the death of St. Francis, had lost the use of his leg due to an abscess that would not heal. Francis appeared to him, touched the abscess with a small staff in the form of a Tau. The abscess burst and the man was healed.