On Sunday, February 10, 2019, Br. Jan Janoska, NSA, and Br. Alfonso DeRuvo, NSA, received their habits in a clothing ceremony presided over by Minister General Brian F. Terry, SA. The ceremony took place in Assisi, Italy, and Novice Director Fr. Ed Boes, SA, along with Formation Director Fr. Jim Puglisi, SA, assisted.
Fr. Jim Puglisi has the following to share about the significance of the clothing ceremony:
The meaning of the clothing ceremony has to do with a clear choice for the candidate to deepen their vocational discernment. Symbolically, they take off the old person and put on the new one that they are seeking to become. Just as in baptism, the newly baptized puts on Christ, represented by the white robe they are vested with, so the novice puts on the penitential cloths of one who desires to do penance and become more perfect in their baptismal commitment to follow in the footsteps of Jesus–poor, chaste and obedient to the will of the Father.
By receiving the habit they follow in the footsteps of St. Francis, who stripped himself of this worldly attractions to better see, hear and follow the gospel of Jesus Christ. During the novitiate year, the novice will learn the Third Order Regular Rule of Life as well as the Constitutions of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. While they will profess the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience only at the end of the year-long formation process, they begin to live there. Their capacity to dedicate themselves fully to the following of Christ in serving God’s people according to the charism (gift) that the Friars of the Atonement offer to the Church is tested–praying and ministering for the Unity of Christians and the “At-One-Ment” of all of creation to the will of the Father.