The second-hand clothes are unstitched and stitched again to put the christian virtue of charity into practice. Charity, which is the propensity to sympathize with the unfortunate. The tree is a metaphor for Nature, therefore the emphasis is on the urgency for its rescue, through kindness and love. It is just what the word Caritas means in Latin. As a result, the investiture act recalls the ancient ceremony by which the knights were consecrated with their virtute et benevolentia (virtue and benevolence) in medieval times.