Clare de Favarone and her family

Clare of Assisi was born in 1194. Her mother, Ortulana, was praying for a happy birth for her daughter. While she was praying, she heard a voice which said to her, “Do not be afraid for you will joyfully bring forth a clear light that will illumine the word.” She gave birth happily, and the child was baptized with the name of Chiara (Clare).

Her father, Favarone, was a noble who died while at war when Clare was little. Monaldo, the brother of Favarone, became the head of the family.

Ortulana was a pious woman. She made pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to other famous shrines. She practiced her faith, helped the poor, and lived an authentically Christian life. Clare grew up in this atmosphere, one that was religious, pious, and charitable. From a very young age, Clare did penances — wearing a hair shirt under her rich garments and sharing her food with the poor, even depriving herself partially of her own food.

Although she was very young, according to custom, the intention was to find her a good match for marriage. However, Clare did not consent to the proposals that were made to her. She had other dreams in mind: to consecrate herself to Jesus Christ as a virgin, to live poorly as He did, and not to give her heart to any man but to keep it only for God.

Francis and Clare

At this time, Clare was already known as a virtuous and pious woman who did penance and helped the poor. Despite her noble social rank, she stood out because of her humility and simplicity. She was loved and respected by the people of Assisi. Francis also heard the talk about Clare. He was preaching in the streets and in some of the churches of Assisi. One day, Clare heard him and her heart began to resonate with the words that Francis preached. Both began to look for an occasion to talk. In these conversations where they talked of the things of the Lord, Francis encouraged her to embrace a radical following of Jesus Christ in total poverty. His words penetrated Clare’s heart as a seed into well-prepared ground and she quickly decided to leave everything to follow Jesus as her only Lord.

It was Palm Sunday, March 18, 1212. Clare went to church dressed in great elegance, as was the custom for religious festivities. During the celebration the young people approached to receive the palm or olive branch from the hands of the bishop. Clare, however, stayed unmoving in her place. What had happened to her? Perhaps in her mind she saw herself already emptied of everything and made poor by Christ. Because of the general surprise, the bishop himself came down to where she was to place the blessed olive branch into her hands. Was this, perhaps, the hoped for sign, which told her that the moment of leaving had arrived? What is certain is that for Clare it was something like a confirmation to begin her exodus with Jesus exactly at the beginning of Holy Week. The olive branch was at the same time a sign and a blessing for her new path.

That very night, still dressed as a bride, Clare fled her home. She left through the door of the dead (used only when someone died and was taken to the grave). The strength of this young woman was moving, the strength to conquer all the obstacles to her flight. The door was strongly shut and secured with heavy iron, but she opened it and went out. She had to avoid the palace watch and the guards of the city. At the same time, outside the walls of Assisi, Francis and his companions waited for her in the valley.

That same night, after the cutting of her hair as a sign of penance and consecration to Christ and the Church, Francis took Clare to the monastery of the Benedictine nuns at Bastia where she found asylum. Already they feared the reaction of her family, which was not long in coming. The following day her uncle Monaldo at the head of a group of armed servants presented himself at the monastery to carry her away by force. Clare was not intimidated. She refused to leave and grasping the cloths of the altar with one hand, with the other she uncovered her head. When they saw that she had her hair cut, they gave up because they knew that she was consecrated and that the Church would protect her. Two weeks later her younger sister Agnes joined her.

Still the spirit of Clare did not find peace. This was not the form of life that her heart longed for. She left the monastery and went to live for a time with the recluses of Mount Subasio, a group of women religious who lived a semi-heremetical life. There she did not find what she yearned for; so Francis finally brought her, along with Agnes, to San Damiano, the hermitage which he had rebuilt with his own hands and where he heard the voice of the crucified, “Francis, go and repair my church.”

The life of St. Clare at San Damiano

Clare began to live with the sisters who little by little came to join her. In a few words, Francis wrote a form of life for them. Clare was a prayerful woman, Her sisters said that she arose at night and kept vigils. The greater part of her time was spent in prayer; she fasted so much that Francis had to order her to moderate her fasting. For twenty-nine years she was sickly. During her illness she devoted herself to making corporals for poor churches.

The lifestyle at San Damiano was one of a community united in the love of Christ. Christ was loved and served in the Eucharist, the Divine Word, in each sister and brother, those nearby as well as those far away. The charity of the sisters at San Damiano took in the whole world in its prayerful intercession. The walls of the monastery did not imprison the hearts of Clare and her sister but expanded them to the ends of the earth with a desire for peace and fervent prayer for the salvation of humanity.

Overcoming many obstacles, Clare wrote her own rule, which was the form of life that she and her sister lived at San Damiano. She left this as a heritage to her future sisters. Clare was the first woman to write a rule for women that was approved by the Church. The key aspects of the rule are: love of the poor and crucified Christ, sisterly togetherness under the bond of charity, the highest poverty of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the bodily cloister as a sign of belonging exclusively to Jesus Christ and as a means of spiritual freedom. Clare saw in the poverty of Christ the way that allowed the heart to give itself exclusively to loving God and neighbor, free from whatever might restrict the human heart and might hold up its march to the Lord.

Her rule, like Francis’ begins with the words, “The form of life of the Order of Poor Sisters is this: to observe the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ by living in obedience, without anything of one’s own And in chastity.”

The death of St. Clare

The rule for which Clare struggled so much, with its privilege of poverty (meaning that she could not be obliged to receive possessions or rents but live by the work of her hands and by trusting in Divine Providence) was finally approved before her death on August 10, 1253. The Bull of Approbation was presented to her on her deathbed. Now she could go with a joyful heart. She praised God in these words, “Blessed are you, Lord, who has created me!”

The letter announcing her death reads, “Clare walked in this world, but her soul was in heaven. She was a vessel of humility, a flame of charity, and her goodness was always kind. She supported others with her patience; she was a peacemaker, gentle and kind in word and in action; she was loving and mild towards all.

“May all the company of the faithful rejoice because the Lord and King of Heaven has chosen his sister and companion for his bride.”