COAT OF ARMS

PROVINCE OF THE
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

Franciscans Third Order Regular
of St. Francis of Penance 

The use of a Coat of Arms was originally a distinction of nobility and the military. However, it spread slowly to the ecclesiastical world due in part to such royal decrees as England's in 1307 which obliged every religious house to have a distinctive seal for legal purposes. Eventually, this idea was adopted by the religious Orders so that all the major institutes came to have their particular coat of arms. The Franciscan Family followed this tendency, depicting on its seal the arms of Christ and St. Francis in saltire surmounted by a cross.

The traditional explanation of this symbolism is taken from the Minor Life of St. Francis by St. Bonaventure:

  " When the time had come for his departure, he called all the friars living near him ... While they were gathered about him, the Patriarch of the poor (almost blind, not because of old age but from the many tears he had shed), crossed his arms and extended his hands in the form of a Cross, one of his favorite gestures, and blessed all his followers, both present and far away in the Power and the Name of the Crucified".

To indicate that the blessing came from St. Francis in the power and Name of the Crucified Lord, the Honour point of the field depicts one of the stigmatized arms as bare and the other clothed in the grey habit of Francis and the early Franciscans: the arm of Christ and the arm of His servant, St. Francis.

The Fess or Central point of the shield has the symbol peculiar to the regular branch of the Franciscan Order of Penance: the crown of thorns with three nails, representing the Passion of Christ, the example of every true penitent. They also recall St. Louis, King of France and patron the Franciscan Third Order. As in the ancient seal of our Minister General, we find St. Louis depicted with these instruments of the Passion in his hands because he rescued them from the infidels and made it possible for Christians to venerate them.

The Base or Nombril point of the shield has a silver crescent moon, the symbol of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, the Patroness of our Province. The background colors of blue are traditional Marian colors and also recall this Marian year in which this coat of arms was adopted by the Province.

The regal crown dominating the coat of arms is adapted from the Great Seal of the Third Order and is used to distinguish Provinces from Commissariats (  Vice Provinces ) of the Order. It indicated that through the life of penance we merit the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Motto of the Province is written on the scroll below
( According To Your Word ) is taken from the words of the Virgin Mary. It signifies our Province's desire to imitate her fidelity to God's Will. 

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