In 1193, Clare was born in Assisi, Italy, into a wealthy family. She was educated in the domestic arts of spinning and needlework, as well as reading and writing. Though raised among the nobility, she cared little for the social life which surrounded her because she had decided to dedicate her life to God. Her decision was greatly influenced by the piety of her mother. Given to prayer and care for the poor, Clare often saved food from the table to distribute to the poor outside the doors of her home.
It is generally believed that Clare heard St. Francis preaching in the streets of Assisi about his new religious community of men called friars who relied solely on alms or begging for their needs. Clare was inspired by his words.
Clare’s parents had decided she would marry a wealthy young man. In desperation, Clare fled her home and sought refuge with Francis, who received her into religious life.
Clare lived briefly at San Paolo delle Abadesse, a nearby Benedictine monastery of nuns. Then she moved again for a short period to a house of female penitents, called Sant’Angelo in Panza on Monte Subasio. There, she was joined by her sister Agnes.
Clare and Agnes next moved to the Church of San Damiano, which Francis himself had rebuilt. Soon other women joined them there. San Damiano became known for its radically austere lifestyle, and its residents were the “Poor Ladies”.
San Damiano became the focal point for Clare’s new religious Order, the “Order of San Damiano”. (By 1263, 10 years after Clare’s death, the order would be known as the Order of Saint Clare.)
Unlike the Franciscan friars who moved freely around the country to preach, an itinerant life was hardly conceivable at that time for women. Clare’s sisters lived in enclosure, a life devoted to manual labor and prayer.
For a time, Francis himself directed the Order. Then in 1216, Clare accepted the role of abbess at San Damiano. As abbess, Clare defended her Order against attempts by prelates to impose on them a rule that closely resembled the Rule of St. Benedict than Francis’ stricter desire of relying on alms. Clare sought to imitate Francis’ virtues and way of life. She played a significant role in encouraging and aiding Francis, whom she saw as a spiritual father. She cared for him during his illnesses at the end of his life, and was with him when he died in 1226.
After Francis’s death, Clare continued to promote the growth of her Order. She wrote letters to abbesses in other parts of Europe. She thwarted attempts by each successive pope to impose any rule on her Order which would water down their radical commitment to corporate poverty. She did this despite the poor health which plagued her until her death.
On August 9, 1253, Pope Innocent IV issued the papal bull “Solet Annure” which confirmed that Clare’s rule would be the governing rule for the Order of Poor Ladies. Two days later, on August 11, Clare died. She was 59. Her remains were temporarily interred at the chapel of San Giorgio until a church to hold her remains could be built.
In the document on her canonization in 1255, numerous miracles attributed to St. Clare are re-told. For example, upon finding an empty jar miraculously filled with oil when they were in need, Clare believed God had filled it as “a gift of divine generosity”. The book, “Legend of Clare”, tells how Clare healed a young boy with an emotional disorder.
Clare accepted all things and people as a gift from God. She lived among her community as an equal — doing daily works with everyone else. She was attentive to each sister’s well-being. One day Clare suspected a sister was suffering from depression. Clare gave her extra tenderness and care, and the nun was restored to health and peace of heart.
In art, Clare is often depicted carrying a monstrance or pyx, in commemoration of the time when she warded off the soldiers of Fredrick II at the gates of her monastery by displaying the Blessed Sacrament and kneeling in prayer.
Today Poor Clares number over 20,000 sisters throughout the world with 16 Federations in over 70 countries.
Recommended reading:
- Armstrong, Regis, and Brady, Ignatius. “Francis and Clare: The Complete Works”. N.Y.:Paulist Press, 1982.
- Armstrong, Regis. “Clare of Assisi Early Documents”. N.Y.: Paulist Press, 1988.