St. Clare was born Chiarra Offreduccio in Assisi, Italy on July 16, 1194 to a wealthy family. Her father, Favorino Scifi, was a count and her mother was the countess Ortalana, now a blessed. Her father died when she was very young. After hearing St.
Francis preach in the streets one day, she confided to him her own desire to live her life for God. The two became good friends. On Palm Sunday in the year 1212, the local bishop presented Clare with a palm, which she took as a sign to follow her vocation. Clare and her cousin, Pacifica, ran away one night to enter the religious life.She soon accepted the veil of a nun from St. Francis at the Church of Our Lady of the Angels in Assisi.
Francis place her temporarily with the Benedictine nuns of San Palos near Bastia, then to San Angelo in Panzo, until she was finally sent to San Damiano where she founded the first community of the Order of Poor Ladies (later the Poor Clares. ) She led this order for forty years. Everywhere the Franciscans established themselves throughout Europe; there also went the Poor Clares, depending solely on the providence of God to subsist. This was a new idea at the time.In the beginning, most of the young girls who joined her in this life of radical poverty were from the noble families of Assisi and the surrounding area. At first they had no written rule to follow except for a very short 'formula vitae.
' Over the years prelates tried to draw up a rule for the order largely based on the Rule of St. Benedict, however, Clare would reject these attempts in favor of the 'privilege of poverty,’ wishing to own nothing in the world and depending entirely on the providence of God and the generosity of the people for their livelihood.Clare became a living example of the poverty, humility and the mortification expounded by St. Francis.
She had a special devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to increase her love for Christ crucified, she learned by heart the Office of the Passion composed by St. Francis. Under her guidance the community of San Damiano became a veritable nursery of saints. Clare's mother, Ortalana (blessed), and sisters Agnes (St. Agnes of Assisi) and Beatrix (blessed) later joined the order, as well as her faithful Aunt Bianca. Clare lived to see monasteries spread across Europe in her lifetime.
Twice God saved San Damiano through the intercession of St. Clare. In September 1240, hoards of Saracen mercenaries attacked the walls of the monastery on their way to the city. Clare prayed before the Blessed Sacrament and suddenly for no explainable reason the Saracens retreated.
A similar situation occurred when the troops of Vitalis d'Aversa attacked Assisi in June 1241. Again her profound devotion the Eucharist brought her before the Blessed Sacrament and again the city was spared. Starting in 1224, Clare was always ill while at San Damiano.One Christmas Eve she was too ill to rise from her bed to attend mass at the new Basilica of St. Francis and although being more than a mile away, she saw the mass on the wall of her dormitory. So clear was the vision that the next day she could name all of the friars who were at the mass (She has been named patroness of television for this reason.
) When Clare felt the day of her death approaching, she called her religious community around her and reminded them of the many benefits they had received from God and encouraged them to persevere faithfully in the observance of evangelical poverty.On August 11, 1253, just before dawn, Clare passed peacefully away. Her body remains incorrupt. Saint Clare of Assisi (sometimes spelled Clair, Claire, etc.
) (July 16, 1194 – August 11, 1253), born Chiara Offreduccio, is an Italian saint and one of the first followers of Saint Francis of Assisi. She founded the Order of Poor Ladies, a monastic religious order for women in the Franciscan tradition, and wrote their Rule of Life—the first monastic rule known to have been written by a woman. Following her death, the order she founded was renamed in her honor as the Order of Saint Clare, commonly referred to today as the Poor Clares.
