Saint Clare of Assisi

SClare of Assisi was born on July 16, 1194, in Assisi, Italy. She was named Chiara. Her parents Favarone Offreduccio and Ortalana (who became Blessed Ortalana of Assisi) belonged to a family of knights and nobles.

In 1210, Chiara got enchanted by the Lenten preaching of St. Francis of Assisi and developed a great desire to imitate him. At the age of 18, she secretly left her home on the evening of Palm Sunday in 1212 in order to be consecrated as the handmaid of Jesus. She went to Saint Mary’s Church in Porziuncula and met with Francis and his brethren. Before the Blessed Virgin’s altar, her long hair was cut and wore a sackcloth tied with a cord around her waist as her penitential habit. She stayed at the Benedictine Convent of Bastia and then in the community of Sant’Angelo in Panza in Mont Subasio. Soon, her sister Caterina (who became St. Agnes) joined her. When her parents learned about what she did, they attempted to forcefully take her and her sister back home but Chiara refused and proclaimed that Jesus would be her only husband as parents

wanted her to marry. The sisters moved to the Damiano church outside of Assisi when it was restored. In this place, Chiara founded the Order of Poor Ladies (later known as the Poor Clares). As the first Franciscan nun, taking the name Clare, she was chosen by Francis to be the leader of the convent. However, it took three years of prayerful urging before Clare accepted the offer of Francis for her to be the mother superior of the order.

The Poor Ladies lived a life of total poverty. They went around barefoot, slept on the ground, fasted every day, abstain from eating meat, and spoke only when necessary. They spent their lives in prayer and hard work. Yet, the sisters were very happy serving the Lord all the time. She followed the Rule of St. Francis and defended it against attempts to change the rule of her order. When Gregory IX offered Clare a dispensation from the vow of strict poverty in 1228, she said that what she needed was absolution from her sins, not the obligation of following Christ. Accordingly, the Pope granted them the Privilegium Pauperitatis (property privilege), that nobody could

oblige them to accept any possession.

In 1229, Clare’s sister Beatrice joined the congregation. Her mother, who was then a widow, joined her three daughters. Afterwards, Bianca, her aunt, also joined them. Clare wrote the Rule of her Order which dictates that good sense would guide everyone in the convent. She instructed her sisters to wear something poor to remind them of the status of Jesus when was born. Her Rule was confirmed on August 9, 1253, by the Papal Bull Solet annure.

On August 11, 1253, Clare died at the age of 59. On September 26, 1255, she was canonized as St. Clare by Pope Alexander IV. On February 17, 1958, she was declared patron saint of television, for it was believed that when she was too ill to attend Mass, she had been able to see and hear mass miraculously on the wall of her bedroom that she had even identified who officiated the Mass.

In 1263, the Order of Poor Ladies was officially changed to the Order of Saint Clare by Pope Urban IV.