But that's something these holy men are used to.

Despite their curious style of dress, the Friars have fitted in and lived among some of the most troubled communities across the world, including the poor and homeless in South Bronx, New York, and the fraught housing estate of Moyross in Limerick.

They say they regularly get called 'Monk' or even 'Moses' in the street, joking that when they arrived in the city just before Halloween, they decided to keep a "low profile" the night of carnival in case they were mistaken for people in fancy dress.

Father Sylvester Mann, who has spent the last four years in Moyross, said the Friars want to respond to the needs of the community in Derry.
"I know some people automatically thought we'd open a soup kitchen in Derry," he said. "We've not done that in Moyross, in fact most of our friaries do not have soup kitchens.

"It's important for us to build up positive relationships with people in the neighbourhood, people have a lot of questions about who we are and what we do.

"Already people have come by to visit. People are welcome to come and introduce themselves. As we get settled in I'm sure we will meet a lot of people locally."

The Friars say they understand the curiosity people may have about the way they live, adding that they operate an open door policy to anyone who wants to find out more.

New Jersey born Father Fidelis Moscinski revealed how the idea of setting up a friary in Derry came about when he met Bishop Seamus Hegarty on a retreat in Italy in 2005.

"Over time Bishop Hegarty invited us to come into the diocese," he said. "We ended going to Limerick first but we promised the Bishop the next time we opened a friary in ireland it would be in Derry."
Father Sylvester explained the decision to head for Limerick first, hinged on an incident in which two young children were badly burned in an arson attack on a car.

"When we heard about the fire we knew Moyross was the place to go, it was the place with the greatest need."

The Friars work in Moyross has made a significant difference with the crime rate now down by 60%, more people coming into the area, and children playing happily on the streets again.

Now they're in Derry the Friars say they're honoured to be in a town steeped in so much history and full of people with a generous spirit.

Retreats
And while they have no fixed plans about their work in Derry they say they're keen to help with parish missions and retreats.

Brother Patrick Crawley from Cork said prayer was a central part of their life, however their outreach work goes hand in hand with that.
They've already met various groups, and have been booked for a retreat in the diocese at the start of Lent.

"The other things we do is the minister to the marginalised or people in the need," said Father Fidelis. "The important thing for us is to be led by the Holy Spirit so that we can make sure we are doing the work the Lord wants us to do. We also want to bring an outreach service to the youth of Derry.

"What we want is to live our Franciscan life and share it with other people. We want to serve the local church as best we can, we have been blessed to meet some of the younger priests in the diocese, very fine young men and the best encouragement for vocations in the area.

"We've seen a lot in Derry, there's still a lot more to see. We feel very privileged to be in this parish because of the history of St Columba, there's an ideal the parish represents that is inspiring to us."

Father Sylvester added: "We happy to be here and hope to be here for many years, we ask people to pray for us."