CONGREGATION OF THE FRANCISCAN HOSPITALLER SISTERS
OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION (FHIC)

SISTERS
– Participants in the same human condition, daughters of the same celestial Father, nourished by the same Body and Blood of Jesus and congregated in the same Spirit of love, the Sisters commit themselves to live an intense experience of mutual esteem, union and fraternal sharing, loving one another very much just as God wants us to.

FRANCISCAN
– In minority, joy and simplicity which arise from an experience of divine filiation and of human fraternity, the Sisters consecrate themselves to the praise of God and to the service of the brethren, in the likeness of Francis of Assisi, establishing with the whole of creation a fraternal dialogue, proclamation of universal fraternity.

HOSPITALLER
– In the following of Jesus who became a bridge between the Father and the humanity, the Sisters are a hospitaller presence and an expression of the mercy and tenderness of God in the world, receiving everybody without distinction, after the example of Fr. Raimundo and Mother Clara, whose charity knew no bounds.

OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
– Like the lmmaculate Virgin, humble Servant and Mother of the Lord, the Sisters offer themselves to God, with an undivided heart, to make of their life a generous ‘yes’ and to take Jesus to the world.

---

EMBLEM

Emblem: coat of arms and seal of the Congregation
Lozenge: shape of the emblem: proper of ladies
Five Wounds: evocation of the wounds of Christ used in the Franciscan coat of arms
Heraldic Star: symbol of the Holy Virgin Mary
Burning Lamp: symbol of the oil that soothes the pain and sustains the flame that illuminates and warms
Cross of Christ: Cross of the ancient ships with masts, element with the Portuguese missionary mark
Motto: situated at the base of the emblem and outside it, interprets its meaning
            Lucere – to be luminous and to illuminate, like reflection of the light of God
            Fovere – to warm, protect, care for, promote life