The last letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

The Tau has a strong symbolic meaning in the Old Testament. In the Bible (Ezekiel 9:4), the Lord says to the prophet Ezekiel: "Go through the city, through Jerusalem, and make a mark, a tau, on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan. " Thus, by this sign, the poor are saved from extermination. Similarly, the Book of Revelation speaks of a sign on the forehead: "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees until we have marked the foreheads of the servants of our God" (Rev 7:3). The tau is therefore a sign of belonging to God and of redemption. We received this inner sign of Christian renewal on the day of our baptism. Since then, we have been spiritually marked! (cf. Eph 1:13).

The tau was quickly adopted by Christians. It is found in the catacombs of Rome for two reasons: first, it is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

Saint Francis and the Tau.

It is for all these reasons that Saint Francis adopted and used this sign. The love of the cross accompanied his conversion until his death. For our saint, the Tau was the concrete sign of salvation, a sign of hope! Saint Bonaventure says that the Tau sign had all the veneration and devotion of Saint Francis: he often spoke of it to recommend it, writing it by hand at the bottom of the letters he sent (Legenda Major 4,9). In Treatise on Miracles 159, we are even told that he had a small stick in the shape of a tau and that he signed his actions with the tau. Brother Pacifique, one of Saint Francis' companions and minister of the brothers in France, had seen a tau full of color and life on Saint Francis' forehead.

The tau, therefore, is rich in biblical, Christian, and Franciscan tradition. It does not belong exclusively to the Franciscans, but they use it most often as a sign of their faith. However, the tau is not magical. It is not a talisman. The tau is a sign of Christian faith and hope. Wearing the tau means committing oneself to the spiritual path of baptism in order to live according to the Gospel.

Today.

Wearing a tau means recognizing that we are saved. As the prophet Ezekiel says, through this sign we have powerful protection (cf. Ezekiel 9:4). This is good news! It is a sign of dignity and belonging to God. A believer knows that he or she belongs to God and is going to God, but this sign also tells others. In fact, it is a testimony.

The link between the cross and the tau tells us that the cross is no longer a sign of torment and shame, nor is it a political sign, but that the cross is the sign of the saved, of those who know and believe that Jesus saves us from our evils, our sufferings, our limitations. He is there for us! We are precious to him; he loves us.

The tau is normally made of wood, a flexible and natural material. Like wood, the baptized must allow themselves to be shaped by the Word of God and the sacraments. They must be flexible in order to be molded by God and rediscover his image. The tau is often made of olive wood, a sign of peace. Saint Francis blessed nature and mankind, and through his blessing he "spoke well" according to the Latin etymology of the word... a noble mission in our world!