Herb franciszkański w polskich publikacjach tercjarskich

With the development of civilization, sign and symbols entered the life of Christian church in the form of coats of arms, emblems being placed on the seals, cloaks of the Order, shields and pennants. It was permissible to locate both secular and religious coats of arms in churches, providing that the owners were benefactors or patrons of the church. Throughout the ages plenty of people and institutions as well as the arising orders created the coats of arms and emblems in order to be recognized as a particular family order. The symbols placed on the coats of arms summarised the history and specificity of Order. At the beginning of the XIII century one of the greatest Orders was established by Saint Francis of Assisi (1226) and it had owned its coat of arms since ages as well. The contemporary Franciscan coat of arms presents the cross with two crossed hands at the bottom which are coming out of the clouds. One hand, presenting Jesus Christ, is without a coat and the other is in the habit of Saint Francis. This coat of arms has become the symbol of all Franciscan Orders, both male and female. This sign is being recognized by all congregations and communities with Saint Francis as a patron. The crossed arms demonstrate the affiliation to the great Franciscan family. The Third Order of Saint Francis from Assisi and Secular Franciscan Order belong to it, too. The Franciscan coat of arms that appeared in the publications for the third Order of Saint Francis of Assisi was blossoming between the wars (1918–1939). The contemporary publishing offer was widely addressed to the Tertiary which led to showing its sign on the publications. Those days a kind of promotion for the Francis family took place and relatively to this, graphic embellishment. In the current literature aimed at the Tertiary the coat of arms is used rarely, the sign most apparent is “T” (tau). There is the question to be asked, why is it so? The answer is not that easy because religious heraldry is a very complex phenomenon. It is influenced by a number of factors such as tradition, church doctrine and even the prevailing at that time fashion. Below presented coats of arms have their own place in the history of the Franciscan tertiary