After his conversion St. Francis girded himself with a rough cord in memory of the cords with which Christ had been bound during His Passion, and a white girdle with three knots came subsequently to form part of the Franciscan habit. According to Wadding, St. Dominic received the cord from St. Francis and always wore it under his habit out of devotion to the saint, his example being followed by many of the faithful. In his Bull "Ex supernae dispositionis" (19 November, 1585), Sixtus V erected the Archconfraternity of the Cord of St. Francis in the basilica of the Sacro Convento at Assisi, enriching it with many Indulgences, and conferred upon the minister general of the Conventuals the power of erecting confraternities of the Cord of St. Francis in the churches of his own order and of aggregating them to the archconfraternity at Assisi. The same pope, in his Bull "Divinae caritatis" (29 August, 1587), granted new Indulgences to the archconfraternity and empowered the minister general of the Friars Minor to erect confraternities of the Cord of St. Francis in the churches of his own order in those places where they are no Conventuals. Paul V, in his Bull "Cum certas" (2 March, 1607), and "Nuper archiconfraternitati" (11 March, 1607) revoked all spiritual favours hitherto conceded to the archconfraternity and enriched it with new and more ample Indulgences. Both these Bulls were confirmed by the Brief of Clement X, "Dudum felicis" (13 July, 1673). Finally, Benedict XIII in his Constitution "Sacrosancti apostolatus" (30 September, 1724), conceded to the minister general of the Conventuals authority to erect confraternities of the Cord of St. Francis in churches not belonging to his own order in those places where there are no Franciscans. New privileges and Indulgences were conceded to the archconfraternity by two decrees of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences dated 22 March, 1879, and 26 May, 1883. Besides the ordinary requirements necessary for the gaining of all plenary and partial Indulgences, the wearing of the cord and enrollment in the records of the archconfraternity are the only conditions imposed on the members.
The Cincture, or White Cord, is a sign of chastity, and has been since the Church's beginning -- and before. Old Testament priests wore cinctures, Consecrated Virgins and religious wear cinctures, and the wearing of cinctures in honor of a particular saint is ancient, first spoken of in the life of St. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine, and carried on by St. Dominic, who wore the cincture in honor of St. Francis of Assisi. Certain Confraternities and Archconfraternities (groups of faithful to a religious cause) also wear cinctures as signs of their affiliation and chastity. Franciscans wear a White Cincture called a 'Cintura Bianca' (pronounced Chin-Torah-Bee-Anka) which translated means 'White Rope.' The three knots on the Franciscan Cincture represent Poverty, Chatity and Obedience, the three Conerstones of the Franciscan Order.
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