Clare of Assisi

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about an Italian saint. For other saints with similar names, see Saint Clare (disambiguation). For other people named Clare, see Clare (disambiguation).

Basilica of Saint Clare, Assisi
Feast11 August (1970–)
AttributesMonstrance, pyx, lamp, habit of the Poor Clares
PatronageEye disease, goldsmiths, laundry, television, bicycle messengers, good weather, needleworkers, remote viewing, extrasensory perception; Santa Clara, California; Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico; Obando, Bulacan, Philippines

Chiara Offreduccio (16 July 1194 – 11 August 1253), known as Clare of Assisi (sometimes spelled Clara, Clair or Claire; Italian: Chiara d'Assisi), was an Italian saint who was one of the first followers of Francis of Assisi.

Inspired by the teachings of St. Francis, she founded the

Franciscan tradition. The Order of Poor Ladies was different from any other order or convent because it followed a rule of strict poverty.[1]
Clare wrote their Rule of Life, the first set of monastic guidelines known to have been written by a woman. Following her death, the order she founded was renamed in her honor as the Order of Saint Clare, commonly referred to today as the Poor Clares. Her feast day is on 11 August.

Early life

Fresco of Saint Clare and sisters of her order, church of San Damiano, Assisi

Clare was born in

Mount Subasio.[3] Ortolana belonged to the noble family of Fiumi, and was a very devout woman who had undertaken pilgrimages to Rome, Santiago de Compostela, and the Holy Land. Later in life, Ortolana entered Clare's monastery, as did Clare's sisters, Beatrix and Catarina (who took the name Agnes and was later declared a saint herself).[4]

As children, Clare and her sisters were taught the ways of Christianity by their mother; they all became very religious and devoted to prayer. When Clare was 12 years old, her parents wanted her to marry a wealthy young man; however, she protested and said that she did not want to marry until she turned 18. As a teen, she heard Francis preach during a Lenten service in the church of San Giorgio at Assisi.

Inspired by his words and knowing that marriage was rapidly approaching, Clare went to Francis and asked him to help her to live after the manner of the Gospel.

Porziuncula to meet Francis. There, her hair was cut, and she exchanged her rich gown for a plain robe and veil.[3] Fully cutting a woman's hair was a symbolic act showing that she was no longer bound by the laws of man or society but rather that she followed the will of God.[5]

Life in the convent

Saint Clare intervenes to save a child from a wolf; panel by Giovanni di Paolo, 1455.
Saint Clare of Assisi Window at Holy Family Convent Manitowoc WI
Saint Clare makes vows into the hands of Saint Francis. Stained glass window in the convent of the Holy family in Manitowoc, Wisconsin

Francis placed Clare in the convent of the

nuns of San Paulo, near Bastia. Her father, along with other members of her family, attempted to convince her to return home. At first, they tried to persuade her by enticing her with wealth, and the privileges of nobility.[6] but she resisted each attempt, professing that she would have no other husband but Jesus Christ.[7]

Finally, when they tried to use force she clung to the altar of the church and threw aside her veil to show her cropped hair.[8] It was only after seeing her cropped hair that her family relented and left her in peace.[6] In order to provide the greater solitude Clare desired, a few days later Francis sent her to Sant' Angelo in Panzo, another monastery of the Benedictine nuns on one of the flanks of Subasio.

Her sister Catarina unexpectedly joined Clare 16 days later and took the name 'Agnes'. This caused a tremendous uproar in Clare's family as now two of their girls had refused marriage and left the family. Clare's uncle Monaldo, who was head of the family, came to Sant' Angelo with a group of men to bring Agnes back. He confronted Agnes forcefully while Clare was praying for her sister's safety. In the end, Monaldo left empty-handed as he and his men failed to force Agnes to return home.[6]

The sisters remained with the Benedictines until a small dwelling was built for them next to the church of

Second Order (Poor Clares).[8][7]

San Damiano

San Damiano became the centre of Clare's new religious order, which was known in her lifetime as the "Order of Poor Ladies of San Damiano". San Damiano is traditionally considered the first house of this order; it may have been affiliated with an existing network of women's religious houses organised by Hugolino (who later became

Order of Saint Clare
.

Unlike the

Franciscan friars, whose members moved around the country to preach, Clare's sisters lived in enclosure, since an itinerant life was hardly conceivable at the time for women. Their life consisted of manual labour[10] and prayer. The nuns went barefoot, slept on the ground, ate no meat, and observed almost complete silence.[8] This was in accordance with the strict teachings of poverty assigned to Clare by Francis. Francis and Clare believed that through poverty they could become closer to Jesus as they would live the way he did. They were not inconvenienced by this lifestyle, but rather they believed it was a blessing, as they were following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.[6]

For a short period, the order was directed by Francis himself.

prioress and required to follow the orders of a priest heading the community.[12] Clare did not care for titles or power within the Order, and took on the role of abbess only on the instruction of Francis.[13] Clare referred to herself by such terms as mother, handmaid, or servant rather than an abbess.[13] She was very shy and did not like giving orders.[13] On the rare occasions when she would give orders, she would do so with great humility and shyness.[13] Clare would purposefully save the most tedious tasks for herself because she always wished to take care of her sisters.[13] Clare sought to imitate Francis's virtues and way of life so much so that she was sometimes titled alter Franciscus, 'another Francis'.[14]
She also played a significant role in encouraging and aiding Francis, whom she saw as a spiritual father figure, and she took care of him during his final illness.

After Francis's death, Clare continued to promote the growth of her order, writing letters to abbesses in other parts of Europe, including Agnes of Prague, with whom she had formed a close friendship. However, with Francis gone, she faced another challenge.

The fourth Lateran council of 1215 decreed that any new religious communities that had not yet been approved would have to adopt an established order.[6] This established order was very similar to the Rule of Saint Benedict, which was the common rule that monasteries followed. Clare vigorously fought to keep her rule of strict poverty. Ultimately, when the other priests and bishops refused to accept her rule of strict poverty, she sought to get a special privilege from the pope. If granted, this special privilege of poverty ("Privilegium Paupertatis")[15] from the pope would allow her order to keep living in strict poverty as they wanted. But, although Innocent III had approved Clare's privilege and his successor Honorius III had no problem with it, Gregory IX, successor of Honorius III did have a problem with Clare's lifestyle of strict poverty.[16] Gregory IX was the Cardinal Huglino who had previously known and worked with Clare and her order at San Damiano.

During this time, he came to care for Clare and she became very dear to him.[16] Gregory IX worried that the health of the sisters would suffer unduly under the strict vow of poverty Clare wanted.[16] During a visit to San Damiano, Gregory IX urged Clare to give up her way of strict poverty, stating that "if you fear because of your vow, We dispense you from it", to which she immediately responded, "Holy Father, never and in no way do I wish to be dispensed from following Christ!"[16] At that moment, the Pope had no more objections, and during his second year as Pope reapproved the Privilegium Paupertatis.[16]

Late life

Following the Order's approval from the Pope, Clare wanted to make a Rule based on Francis's teachings,

Agnes of Prague
.

As

Blessed Sacrament.[17]

In her later years, Clare endured a long period of poor health. She died on 11 August 1253 at the age of 59, one day after having her Rule approved by Pope Innocent IV. Her last words are reported to have been, "Blessed be You, O God, for having created me."[7]

Death

Basilica of Saint Clare, Assisi

On 9 August 1253, two days before her death, the

Order of Saint Clare
in 1263.

On her deathbed, Clare was heard to say to herself, "Go forth in peace, for you have followed the good road. Go forth without fear, for He Who created you has made you holy, has always protected you, and loves you as a mother. Blessed be You, my God, for having created me."[22]

Some 600 years later in 1872, Clare's

relics
were transferred to a newly constructed shrine in the crypt of the Basilica of Saint Clare, where her relics can still be venerated today.

Legacy

The wax figure of Saint Clare of Assisi at the Basilica of Saint Clare, in Assisi

Clare was canonized on 26 September 1255 by Pope Alexander IV,[20][21] and her feast day was immediately inserted in the General Roman Calendar for celebration on 12 August, the day after her death, as 11 August was already assigned to Saints Tiburtius and Susanna, two 3rd-century Roman martyrs. The celebration was ranked as a Double (as in the Tridentine calendar) or, in the terminology adopted in 1960, a Third-Class Feast (as in the General Roman Calendar of 1960). The 1969 calendar revision removed the feast of Tiburtius and Susanna from the calendar, finally allowing the memorial of Saint Clare to be celebrated on 11 August, the day of her death.

Construction of the Basilica di Santa Chiara began a year after Clare's canonization, and her remains were transferred there on 3 October 1260 from the church of St George, also in Assisi. Her bones are now in the crypt at the Basilica, having been rediscovered in 1850.

In art, Clare is often shown carrying a monstrance or pyx, in commemoration of the occasion when she warded away the invading soldiers of Frederick II at the gates of her convent by displaying the Blessed Sacrament and kneeling in prayer.

Pope Pius XII designated Clare as the patron saint of television in 1958 on the basis that when she was too ill to attend Mass, she had reportedly been able to see and hear it on the wall of her room.[23]

There are traditions of bringing offerings of eggs to the

albumen of the egg.[25]

Many places, including

Lake Saint Clair between Lake Erie and Lake Huron was navigated and named on her feast day in 1679. The Saint Clair River, St. Clair Shores, Michigan, and St. Clair County, Michigan
were also consequently named for her.

A photo of a bronze sculpture of Saint Clare leaning forward with her right hand on her heart or chest
Statue of Saint Clare on the campus of Santa Clara University (2022)

county and valley in which it sits, nicknamed "Silicon Valley" since the 1970s. Southern California's Santa Clara River is hundreds of miles to the south and gave its name to the nearby city of Santa Clarita. The early California missions were founded by Franciscan Friars, who had a special devotion to Saint Clare. Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico
, celebrates its Santa Clara Feast Day annually on 12 August, as the feast was celebrated before the 1969 calendar change.

The first convent in Cuba,

Niña
, which visited Cuba twice, was officially named Santa Clara.

Clare is one of five characters in the oratorio Laudato si', composed in 2016 by Peter Reulein on a libretto by Helmut Schlegel, the others being an angel, Mary, Francis of Assisi, and Pope Francis.[26]

Clare of Assisi is remembered in the Church of England and other churches of the Anglican Communion with a Lesser Festival on 11 August.[27][28]

See also

  • Saint Clare of Assisi, patron saint archive

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b Grau, Engelbert (1992). "Saint Clare's privilegium Paupertatis Its History and Significance". Greyfriars Review. 6 (3): 327.
  2. ^ Natali, Costanzo; Donno, Cristina. "Santa Chiara d'Assisi: La sua vita" (in Italian). Conferenza Italiana Ministri Provinciali Cappuccini. Retrieved 26 November 2018.
  3. ^ a b c Robinson, Paschal (1908). "St. Clare of Assisi." The Catholic Encyclopedia. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  4. ^ Bartoli 1993, p. 34–35.
  5. ^ Botkin, Gene (26 April 2023). "Do Nuns Shave Their Heads?". theosischristian. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d e Grau, Engelbert (1992). "Saint Clare's Privilegium Paupertatis Its History and Significance". Greyfriars Review. 6 (3): 328.
  7. ^
    ISBN 971-91595-4-5
    .
  8. ^ a b c Foley, Leonard, (revised by McCloskey, Pat). "Saint Clare of Assisi", Saint of the Day, Franciscan Media.
  9. ^ Alberzoni, Maria Pia. Clare of Assisi and the Poor Sisters in the Thirteenth Century. St. Bonaventure, New York: Franciscan Institute, 2004.
  10. ^ Bartoli 1993, p. 92ff.
  11. ^ Bartoli 1993, p. 95.
  12. ^ Bartoli 1993, p. 96.
  13. ^ a b c d e Schlosser, Marianne (1991). "Mother, Sister, Bride: The Spirituality of St. Clare". Greyfriars Review. 5 (2): 235.
  14. ^ Bartoli 1993, p. 171ff.
  15. ^ Privilegium Paupertatis
  16. ^ a b c d e f g Grau, Engelbert (1992). "Saint Clare's Privilegium Paupertatis Its History and Significance". Greyfriars Review. 6 (3): 328–330.
  17. JSTOR 25820472
    .
  18. ^ a b Bartoli 1993, p. [page needed].
  19. doi:10.1017/S0022046907004137
  20. ^ a b Tomassetti, Aloysii (ed.). Bullarum, Diplomatum et Privilegiorum Sanctorum Romanorum Pontificum, III. Turin, 1858. pp. 620–624.
  21. ^ a b Pope Alexander IV (26 September 1255). "Clara claris praeclara". The Franciscan Archive. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  22. ^ "St. Clare of Assisi". Catholic Exchange. 11 August 2022. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  23. ^ Pope Pius XII (21 August 1958). "Lettre Apostolique proclamant Ste Claire Patronne Céleste de la Télévision" (in French).
  24. ^ "Ban the plum, banish the plague". The Telegraph. 27 January 2001. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  25. ^ Roces, Alejandro (1980). Fiesta. Manila: Vera-Reyes. p. 83.
  26. ISMN
     979-0-50226-047-7.
  27. ^ "The Calendar". The Church of England. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  28. ISBN 978-1-64065-627-7
    .

Sources

Further reading

Wikisource has the text of the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia article St. Clare of Assisi.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Clare of Assisi.


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