Feast of Saint Clare

The Feast of Saint Clare of Assisi

With her dearest friend Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Clare roused the Church of her time to new hope in God. Theirs was a world too much like ours, especially in the confidence that it was basically “Christian” and probably “as good as it gets.” Despite their continual wars and the ever-present threat of crime; despite the predatory exploitation of the wealthy upon the poor, and the enormous income gap between them; despite the endless, pointless wars against Islam: medieval Italians supposed theirs was a Christian culture. They might have said, “It doesn’t get any better than this.”

Neither Francis nor Clare would have risen up in prophetic anger against that smugness. They were privileged children of the wealthy until the Lord literally lead them into the wilderness and taught them to rely entirely upon his providential love. Abandoning the comfort of their homes – Clare crept out through a portal used exclusively for corpses – they fled into the hills and forests around Assisi. Francis, twelve years her senior, had already established a small community of friars at the Portiuncula. When she arrived he placed her first with a local community of Benedictine sisters; and then, as others joined her, brought them to San Damiano, where the "Poor Clares" live to this day. (She would have preferred "The Poor Ladies."

She never left there, even when a rogue band of Saracen warriors pillaged the Spoleto valley around Assisi. True to his promises, the Lord protected the convent of defenseless women from the invaders. Although she was the “mother” of the community she kept the meanest jobs in the house for herself, including washing the soiled linens and emptying the chamber pots of the infirmary. As the friars spread the good news of a new kind of women’s community, Saint Clare wrote letters to vowed religious all over Europe, explaining her way of life. Only four of those documents survive but they are extraordinary testaments to her insight and ardor.

Her greatest triumph was to win the Privilege of Poverty. The Church of her time could not imagine women living beyond the protections of the walled city without extensive lands and servant peasants to provide for their needs. She would have none of that. Her convent consisted of a chapel and a few buildings, a low wall and an enclosed garden. Her sisters relied entirely upon the generosity of the local people. 
To secure this way of life Saint Clare asked of the Holy Father a formal decree giving her the Privilege of Poverty. Four popes hesitated until Pope Innocent IV wrote his papal bull, Solet annuere. She received the document on August 10, 1253 and died the next day. She had lay in a sick bed with spinal tuberculosis for over twenty years; but strong, determined and devout, she would not die until she had secured her privilege.

Saint Clare is remembered today not only as the foundress of the “Poor Clares” but as one of the most influential women of the middle ages. Her letters sparkle with the love of God; her “daughters” went on to establish communities of prayer, education and medical care for the poor throughout the world.