What is "tau cross"

Tau \Tau\, n. [Gr. tay^ the letter [tau] (English T).] (Zo["o]l.) The common American toadfish; -- so called from a marking resembling the Greek letter tau ([tau]).

Tau cross. See Illust. 6, of Cross.

n. cross resembling the Greek letter tau [syn: St. Anthony's cross]

The Cross of Tau, named after the Greek letter it resembles, is a form of the Christian cross symbol. It is also variously St. Anthony's Cross, Old Testament Cross, Anticipatory Cross, Cross Commissee, Egyptian Cross, Advent Cross, Croce taumata, Saint Francis's Cross, Crux Commissa.

The shape of the letter tau or T was interpreted as representing a crucifix from antiquity. The staurogram, from Greek ΣTAΥPOΣ "cross", was a tau-rho ligature used to abbreviate the Greek word for cross in very early New Testament manuscripts such as P66, P45 and P75. The tau was also considered a symbol of salvation due to the identification of the tau with the sign which in was marked on the forehead of the saved ones ( "set a mark ( tav; after the Phoenician cross-shape ????) on the forehead of the men"), or due to the tau-shaped outstretched hands of Moses in .

St. Anthony of Egypt bore a cross in the form of a tau on his cloak. The Tau Cross is most commonly used in reference to the Franciscan Order and Saint Francis of Assisi, who adopted it as his personal coat of arms after hearing Pope Innocent III talk about the Tau symbol. It is now used as a symbol of the Franciscan Order.