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Clare of Assisi
Nun
11 August 1253
Clare Offreduccio, born
in 1194, was the daughter of a wealthy family in Assisi. When she was eighteen years old,
she heard a sermon by
Francis of
Assisi, and was moved by it to follow the example of the Franciscan brothers and
vow herself to a life of poverty. Her family was horrified, and brought her back home
by force; but one night, in a gesture both tactical and symbolic, she slipped out of
her house through "the door of the dead" (a small side door that was
traditionally opened only to carry out a corpse) and returned to the house of
the Franciscans. Francis cut off her hair, and placed her in a nearby convent. Later
a house was found for her, and she was eventually joined by two of her sisters, her
widowed mother, and several members of the wealthy Ubaldini family of Florence.
Clare's best friend, Pacifica, could not resist, and joined them, too.
The sisters of her order came to be known informally as Minoresses (Franciscan brothers are Friars Minor = "lesser brothers") or as Poor Clares. When the order was formed, Francis suggested Clare for the Superior. But she refused the position until she turned twenty-one. They devoted themselves to prayer, nursing the sick, and works of mercy for the poor and neglected.
They adopted a rule of life of extreme austerity (more so than of any other order of women up to that time) and of absolute poverty, both individually and collectively. They had no beds. They slept on twigs with patched hemp for blankets. Wind and rain seeped through cracks in the ceilings. They ate very little, with no meat at all. Whatever they ate was food they begged for. Clare made sure she fasted more than anyone else. Despite this way of life, or perhaps because of it, the followers of Clare were the most beautiful young girls from the best families of Assisi.
The community of Poor Clares continues to this day, both in the Anglican and in the Roman communions.
Acknowledgements:
Text adapted from James Kiefer's Christian Biographies
Image from Web Gallery of Art