Historical Figure: Clare of Assisi

This chapter provides a historical example of Self-Preservation 3. It’s worth noting that it’s difficult to find a character who is more ordinary, less saintly, or who has a negative or scandalous reputation.

Clare was born in 1193, the daughter of the noblewoman Ortolana and the knight Favarone Offreduccio of Bernardino. Biographers agree that her early years were characterized by the feminine and religious virtues of the era: prayer, fasting, wearing penitential garments, giving alms, valuing retreat, and aspiring to maintain her virginity. In this regard, Clare’s childhood was not very original. She was raised within the confines of her noble lineage, the eldest of three sisters, living alongside neighbors, friends, and cousins in an aristocratic women’s mansion in the upper part of the city, in a secluded, quiet, and clean complex.

At an early age, Clare gave her life entirely to the poor. She loved poverty itself. From very early on, she sympathized with the movement led by Francis, the son of the merchant Pietro di Bernardone. Before departing from the opulent world of her upbringing, she divested part of her inheritance for the benefit of the less fortunate and sent funds to Francis’ fraternity, which established the rural hermitage of Assisi on the city’s outskirts in 1209.

She was described as independently minded from her youth. Out of love for her divine husband, she rejected all marriage proposals and chose not to enter a well-to-do monastery in pursuit of an existence without security. She sought to unite with like-minded women. She grew up in a chivalrous and courtly atmosphere, learned to read and write Latin, and her letters reveal the influence of spiritual theology. She lived isolated due to her social class, and some testimonies mention her frequent acts of charity and her delight in visiting the poor (often hiding food to distribute among them).

In her Rule, Clare wrote that no one should aspire to mere education but to unity through a spirit of love. Her priority was a strong bond of sisterhood. Her mother, Ortolana, instilled in her the truths of the faith, the practice of mercy, practical skills, and craftsmanship. Ortolana’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land likely influenced Clare, who spent her early years in this cloistered domestic environment.

At the age of thirteen, an event in Assisi left an indelible mark on Clare: Francis publicly renounced his father, who subsequently disowned him. Francis left Assisi and sought refuge with the Benedictines on the grounds of the chapel of St. Mary.

When one of Clare’s cousins joined Francis’ fraternity, her connection to the Franciscan movement deepened, and she started searching for a spiritual advisor. She found him in Francis himself. Their meetings took place between 1210 and 1211.

On Palm Sunday in 1211, Bishop Guido II, a friend of Francis, presented Clare with an olive branch, instead of her coming up to take it, which seemed to symbolize his blessing for her spiritual journey. That same night, Clare left her father’s home. Initially, her only companion was solitude. Before her departure, she transferred a portion of her inheritance to her sister Beatriz and left with nothing. Outside the city walls, some friars awaited her and escorted her to Francis. There, she underwent a traditional rite of initiation, dedicating herself to the path of God, including the ritual shaving of her hair, consecration, and the imposition of a penitential habit.

She was then taken to the Benedictine monastery of San Paulo, until it was decided what to do. There, she was received as a servant. When her relatives tried to bring her back, she clung to the altar cloth, revealing her cropped hair as a testament to the unwavering determination of her decision. After a few days, Clare left the Benedictines and moved to Sant’Angelo in Panzo, where a group of women lived a life of penance, but she didn’t find what she sought there either.

Sixteen days after her escape, her sister Catalina joined her. Their family tried to force Catalina to return home, but to no avail. After resolving the confrontation with their family, they left the hermitage of Panzo and began a new life in the church of San Damiano.

Crucial to this journey was the help of Francis, who convinced Bishop Guido II to grant episcopal protection to the newly established religious community.

At the beginning, the San Damiano community had a familial character, with Clare’s mother and her younger sister, as well as acquaintances and childhood companions, joining. Over time, it opened its doors to other women. The community lived in absolute poverty, often lacking essentials like oil or bread. Reports suggest that their problems were miraculously resolved through Clare’s intervention. The sisters renounced all possessions and relied solely on their own hard work.

There are hypotheses suggesting that San Damiano served as a charitable center, offering aid to children and lepers. The focus was on a contemplative and charitable life, close to the city. Francis committed himself to remain in contact, and to look after them with loving care. He expressed his wish for Clare to assume leadership of San Damiano, but she initially

resisted. From 1215 onwards, religious communities were expected to adhere to an existing monastic rule, but neither Francis nor Clare were inclined towards a traditional rule.

The San Damiano group developed with a sense of autonomy. Neither friars nor other ecclesiastical authorities interfered between God and the Sisters. In San Damiano, the friars were under the authority of Clare.

In 1224, the sisters asked Francis for help because Clare had fallen seriously ill due to her rigorous fasting practices, which Francis questioned.

Two years later, Francis passed away, leaving Clare without her most important ally, though he encouraged her to continue the movement in his final will.

Clare guided her sisters to respect each one’s vocation, encouraging them to be “mirrors and examples” for one another, rather than relying childishly on the mother figure. As someone with initiative, she organized her life in an innovative manner. While she initially held suffering in high regard, she was later led by a more rational criterion. Clare institutionalized poverty through fasting, and she and her sisters lived on what they begged.

Clare cultivated her evangelical life in a communal setting, maintaining connections with the city and engaging with earthly society. Between 1228 and 1235, she was pressured to accept the papal concept of a cloistered lifestyle. However, she chose a relative openness and flexibility in terms of enclosure, even caring for the sick within the convent. Her primary focus was on poverty rather than strict enclosure.

In 1228, Pope Gregory IX canonized Francis and visited San Damiano. A clash occurred between Clare and the Pope as he urged Clare to give up her way of strict poverty. Clare eventually obtained from Gregory IX the Privilege of Poverty, which could only be practiced in connection with the city. She aimed to have poverty embraced in a community that was recognized as an expression of evangelical life and a feminine charism. In 1230, Gregory IX severed the ties between the Friars Minor and San Damiano, a measure Clare managed to have revoked under the threat of a hunger strike.

From 1235, Clare found a strong ally and friend in Agnes of Prague, the daughter of a king who chose a life of poverty. By 1237, San Damiano counted fifty sisters. In 1240, the monastery came under attack by Emperor Frederick II’s soldiers. Clare confronted them, not only saving San Damiano but also successfully suspending the siege of the city of Assisi through her intercession.

In 1241, Gregory IX died, and in 1247, Pope Innocent IV transformed the ladies of San Damiano into Franciscans. Clare dedicated herself to writing her own Rule, and in her final

years, struggled to have it approved by the Pope, as she believed the support of Cardinal Rainaldo alone was insufficient.

In the spring of 1253, she wrote her last letter to Agnes of Prague. In her testament, she reminded her sisters, the Friars Minor, and the official church of the unique charism of San Damiano. That summer, Innocent IV, along with his curia, visited Assisi, met Clare, and on his deathbed, confirmed her Rule. On the eve of her passing, Clare kissed the confirmation document.

After her death, numerous miraculous healings were recorded, leading to her canonization in 1255. Contrary to her wishes, in 1288, the Clare community of the Assisi monastery relinquished the Privilege of Poverty and became “Poor Clares of the First Rule,” allowing them to accept testamentary donations.

Therefore, I, Clare, a handmaid of Christ and the Poor Sisters of the Monastery of San Damiano—although unworthy—and the little plant of the holy father, consider together with my sisters so lofty a profession and the command of such a father and also the frailty of some others that we feared in ourselves after the passing of our holy father Francis, who was our pillar of strength and, after God, our one consolation and support. Time and again we willingly bound ourselves to our Lady, most holy Poverty, that after my death, the sisters, those present and those to come, would never turn away from her.

Clare represents contemplation through action.