Here it is shown how the whole Franciscan Order used to wear the point cowl

72 The shape of the monastic habit 73 The preserved habits and old pictures show the true shape of the Franciscan habit 74 Neither Saint Bonaventure nor Saint Bernardine changed its shape

(72) Many have held the opinion that all the Religious in olden times wore the point cowl, particularly Don Peter of Calzolatio, a Benedictine monk of the Congregation of Saint Justina. This Dom Pietro has composed the Chronica Monastica, a very beautiful work. I already knew him quite well. He told me about having found in ancient books that speak about the monastic Order that monks of old wore the habit with a pointed cowl and dressed in crude, coarse cloth. Their melotes, which are mentioned in The Book of Solitary Life, were little mantles like those that the Capuchins now wear. The good Father said Father Saint Francis took up the true ancient monastic habit. It seems very likely since that holy monastic Order from which so many very austere saints have come would not give us to believe that they dressed in fine cloth. Rather their cloth was lowly and coarse, not dyed but of a natural colour.

Many ancient figures lend this credence. The Monks may be seen depicted with coarse habits and with the pointed cowl. Indeed it is believed that Father Saint Dominic also wore the pointed cowl. A Venerable Father Preacher of that Order told me just that. He saw Saint Dominic painted with a pointed cowl in an old friary in Viterbo. Regarding the holy Order of Carthusians it is said to have always preserved its integrity without need for further reforms and with the same shape of habit that Saint Bruno took up with the other Founders of that Order, except it was coarser cloth. It can be seen that the Carthusian Fathers still wear the pointed cowl.

(73) However in regard to the Franciscan Order it is as clear as the sun that Father Saint Francis and the entire Order always wore the pointed cowl for a period of one hundred and twenty two years, as has been written in the Chroniche dell’Ordine. It is also clear from things we have written about the time, how and why the pointed cowl disappeared. The ancient habits of our Saints also lend this credence. These are kept as relics just like the habit with which our Father received the sacred stigmata. This habit can be found in Florence at the friary of the Zoccolanti Fathers under the care of the Grand Duke. With its coarse cloth, colour and cowl it can be seen to be exactly like those that the Capuchins now wear. In Assisi I have seen laid out and reserved as a relic the very habit which the Roman noble lady called Giacoba di Settesoli made for him at his death. It is just like ours although it is white and made from fine cloth because it was put on him after his death. What will we say about the cowl of Blessed Rufino kept in the convent of Saint Clare in Assisi? It is pointed like ours. What will we say about the habit of Blessed Simon that is kept in the friary at Spoleto? It is the same colour, coarseness and shape as ours. I will say nothing about the other habits kept as relics at the Sacro Convento in Assisi, at La Verna, at the friary of Orvieto and in countless other places. All of them are all like our Capuchin habit.

The old images also lend further credence. These are seen in the majority of Churches in Christendom: Saints of the Order depicted with the habit which the Capuchins now wear. This is obvious in Rome among the mosaic figures in San Giovanni in Laterano, Santa Maria Maggiore, San Silvestro, and San Francesco in the Trastevere. In the refectory at Araceli there is a depiction of Saint Francis with the pointed cowl. In the upper Church in the Friary in Assisi the life of Saint Francis is told in pictures. All those Friars are depicted with the pointed cowl. The pictures illustrate the more important things about Father Saint Francis, for example: when the Rule was approved by His Holiness; or when in a vision His Holiness saw Saint Francis hold up the Church of Saint John Lateran. There are other outstanding things which our Father did which are depicted in the figures in that Church and all of them with the pointed cowl.

(74) Some have said that Saint Bonaventure removed the pointed cowl. To say that Saint Bonaventure, who was very zealous about the observance of the Rule, would have been bold enough to remove the shape of the habit that our Father Saint Francis gave is quite false. Furthermore Blessed Raniero of Borgo died more than thirty years after Saint Bonaventure, which was the year 1304, as appears in the witness document made by the public notary. Nevertheless the habit of that holy man has a pointed cowl, as everyone can see, since it is kept as a relic in the friary at Borgo.

Others have said that Saint Bernardine introduced the rounded cowl when he began the Reform of the Zoccolanti Fathers. This is quite false since its is clear that the Reform of the Zoccolanti had its beginning at the Council of Constance, or a little earlier, as appears in the Memoriale dell’Ordine. That Reform separated from the Community of the Conventual Fathers. The pointed cowl was removed some years earlier, before this family began. It was removed in 1328. The following year, 1329, the General Gerald Oddone removed it completely. The Council of Constance began in 1414 and then, as has been said, the Company of Zoccolanti Fathers began. Therefore it appears certain that the pointed cowl was removed 88 years earlier. In fact there was not even a memory of it at that time. Thus it is impossible that Saint Bernardine took it away.

It is also clear that Saint Bonaventure would not have removed it since Saint Francis was depicted with other Saints of the Order in the main Churches of Rome: Saint John Lateran and Saint Mary Major. It is credible that the Order wore that habit with the pointed cowl at the time those figures were painted since the Pope who had them done was Pope Nicholas IV. He was from the Order of Minors and when he was a Friar he wore the same habit. When he was General of the whole Order and he had the name Girolamo d’Ascoli of the Marches he would not have consented nor had them painted with that habit if it were not worn at that time. For it would have been too great a reproach to the Order to depict the Father with a habit other than the one worn by the Order. And these figures were done within twenty years of the death of Saint Bonaventure. Since he died at Lyon in France when the Sacred Council was celebrated in 1274, these figures were done in 1294 while Pope Nicholas IV was Supreme Pontiff, during the third year of his Pontificate.

Therefore it is clear that Saint Bonaventure did not take away the cowl since it was worn for many years after his death.