Milan-based designer Elisabetta Biancheri is reportedly outfitting Franciscan monks in Assisi with new robes that can accommodate their cell phones. Special pockets will allow the men to carry their phones comfortably at all times.

Biancheri specializes in religious wear like priests' robes and has dressed bishops and cardinals. The Assisi monks have ordered 3,000 of the cell phone-equipped habits.

The $150 robes are fashioned from soft, dark-grey linen and though some have criticized them as too frivolous for men of the cloth, Biancheri stands by the design. "It is simply a functional item of clothing," she says. "Even monks make phone calls."

It is believed, however, that 13th century ascetic St. Francis, known for his love of nature and animals, adhered to the philosophy of the "cell-free zone."