Clare became a light to the whole Church because she followed Jesus with all her strength.

Clare's parents, Favarone and Ortolana, were part of Assisi's nobility. They and their three daughters fled to nearby Perugia when the merchants and artisans of Assisi, including the family of the young Francis, expelled the nobles and destroyed their castles (1198-2002).

While still a young girl, Clare showed a love of prayer and of the poor. She was also fascinated by Francis Bernardone, who had eleven followers already in 1209. She felt called to live the gospel as a nun. On the evening of March 18, 1212, she stole away to the Portiuncula and there exchanged her beautiful golden hair for a nun's veil and her rich gown for a common dress and cord belt. She was soon joined by her sister Agnes (November 19) and they lived temporarily with nearby Benedictine sisters.

In May of that year, Clare and Agnes moved to San Damiano which soon became the birthplace of the Poor Clare movement. Officially they were known as the "Poor Ladies of San Damiano." The work of their hands and the begging of the friars supplied their modest needs.

In 1216, Clare reluctantly accepted the title of abbess in accord with the Fourth Lateran Council. She did not stand on that title, however, and was always ready to perform the humblest duties at San Damiano.

After 1225 she was almost constantly sick and confined to bed. With great devotion she made corporals and altar linens for nearby churches.

Though Clare considered herself the "little plant" of Saint Francis and was always grateful for whatever direction he could give the nuns at San Damiano, it would be a mistake to think of Clare as a pale reflection of Francis or to underestimate her uniquemess and her determination to live the gospel simply and courageously within a cloistered setting.

In the thirteenth century, the contemplative life was the only form of religious life for women that was officially recognized by the Church. Women religious would not run schools and hospitals until the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Even though Clare established a contemplative group, she did break with tradition - not without a fight - by rejecting a fixed income for its support. Contemplative nuns had always been supported by revenues from lands owned by their communities and by the dowries they brought with them.

Gaining - in writing - the "privilege of poverty," as Clare called it, was no easy task. Several popes worried that such a life would be too difficult for women. Two days before she died, Clare at last gained this "privilege" from Pope Innocent IV.

Clare had a keen sense of the Mystical Body of Christ; she knew that the nuns at San Damiano were connected to every other part of the Church. Her example prompted rich and poor women throughout Europe to join Poor Clare monasteries. Popes and bishops sought her advice.

She was canonized in 1255, two years after her death.

Quote: As Clare lay dying, her confessor urged her to be patient amid her many sufferings. Clare answered, "Dearest brother, ever since I have known the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ through his servant Francis, no suffering has troubled me, no penance has been hard, no sickness too arduous" (Ignatius Brady, OFM, The Legend and Writings of St. Clare of Assisi, page 49.)

Comment: According to Father Lothar Hardick, OFM, Clare's virtues "were not special gifts of grace alone; they were also gifts of nature. Following the guidance of Francis, she regarded all her natural talents and capacities as precious endowments to be used for the honor and glory of God. She made no attempt to crush them, but rather cooperated with the power of grace to perfect them" (Ignatius Brady, OFM, The Legend and Writings of St. Clare of Assisi, page 137.)

From Day by Day with Followers of Francis and Clare by Patrick McCloskey, OFM, ©1999 St. Anthony Messenger Press.