St. Clare of Assisi

Biography

St. Clare of Assisi (1194–1253) was born into a noble family in Assisi, Italy. Inspired by the preaching and example of St. Francis, she secretly left her family's home on Palm Sunday night in 1212, at age eighteen, and went to the Portiuncula chapel where Francis cut her hair and received her vows. She founded the Order of Poor Ladies (later known as the Poor Clares), the second Franciscan order and the first religious order for women to be given its own Rule — and that Rule was written by Clare herself, the first woman in Church history to write a religious rule. Clare and her sisters lived in radical poverty at San Damiano, the church Francis had rebuilt. She fiercely defended the 'Privilege of Poverty' — the right to own absolutely nothing — against pressure from church authorities who wanted the community to accept endowments. She was known for her deep prayer life, her Eucharistic devotion, and her practical wisdom in leading her community. In 1240, when Saracen mercenaries attacked the convent, Clare held up the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance at the window and the attackers fled in terror — this event led to her being named patroness of television (because she 'saw' a Mass being celebrated at a distance). She died in 1253, and Francis's order continued to grow dramatically.

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