The San Damiano Cross, St Francis and St Clair -  in Our Laundromat

These sacred images — the San Damiano Crucifix, St. Francis of Assisi and St. Clare — are displayed in our laundromat as a quiet witness to the faith and heritage of our two Croatian Catholic families. For generations, Croatian communities — especially in Croatia and in Bosnia & Herzegovina — have been deeply shaped, protected and served by the Franciscan tradition. Our families remain grateful for their role in preserving Christianity, culture, language and hope through difficult chapters of history.

The San Damiano Cross is the icon before which Jesus spoke to St. Francis: “Go and repair my Church, which, as you see, is falling into ruin.” It became the beginning of the Franciscan renewal — not only rebuilding a chapel, but renewing hearts and strengthening the Church through a life of humility, peace and radical trust in God.

St. Francis is honoured as a man of simplicity, charity and conversion, marked by the stigmata — the wounds of Christ — as seen in this image. St. Clare, his spiritual sister in holiness, founded the Poor Clares and is remembered for her courage, purity and contemplative love of Christ.

For many Croatians, Francis and Clare are not just saints of Italy — but spiritual guardians whose Franciscan sons and daughters carried faith into our villages, our parishes, our families, and our memories.

We display these images within Smartwash not as decoration but as a sign of gratitude, identity and blessing over the work of our hands and the people we serve.