Tau Symbol Meaning

Rope and triple rope symbol in the royal arch brickwork

Rope is one of the most important symbols in royal arches. This is the Greek word "T", a character that has the same shape in many languages - also in English. This is a very early shape of the crucifix - often referred to as St. Anthony's Crucifix, because the saint was tortured on a crucifix of similar shape.

Over the course of time, the dew has been used as a symbol by many civilizations: - The pagans used the dew as an appendage to the name of those who had lived through a war. - They saw it as a symbol of vitality - and regarded it as holy because it had the "T" on its chest.

Farmers in some parts of England call this battle the TOR or DOR battle. - In the USA, Indians participating in snake dancing sometimes put on head dresses that have cuts in the letter "T". Boulders were also set up by Blacks Feet Indians in the guise of a crucifix, "Old Man in the Sky Ruling the Winds".

This early symbol has a different meaning: Ipsa Pretiosa = The Valuable Thing Itself (Holy Name). Ubi Res Pretiosa Deponitur = The depot in which the holy thing is located.

Symbolic of the dew cross

When Pope Innocent III used the dew cross at the Fourth Lateran Council, Saint Francis began to use it as his own mark or inscription. It is said that the dew symbol in this painting is a copy of a Saint Francis standing on the walls of his Fonte Colombo prison, where he had written the rules of 1223.

Nowadays the dew cross is the symbol of the worldly order of Franciscans. This is not exclusively for the OFS, as almost every youngster who has ever been to Assisi has left with a dew cross and the Franciscans brothers and sisters and Franciscans youth groups everywhere appreciate it as a Françiscan symbol.

To learn more about the Tau Cross as a symbol of the Order of the Franciscans, please click here to view this downloadable book.