Dear Parishioners,
As we approach the Solemnity of St. Clare of Assisi on August 11, I realized that many people do not know much about her beyond her name. Because she lived and worked so closely with St. Francis, her own incredible story can be overshadowed. This month, I wanted to use my article to change that and share some deeply inspiring information about this remarkable woman.
Saint Clare of Assisi: The Indomitable Light of Franciscan Poverty | For the Franciscan family, St. Clare is not just a secondary figure or a holy companion to St. Francis; she is a co-founder of the Franciscan movement and the spiritual mother of the Second Order (the Poor Clares). In the Franciscan liturgical calendar, her day is elevated to the highest possible rank—a Solemnity—to honor her foundational role, her radical witness, and her enduring rule of life.
The Noblewoman Who Chose Nothing | Born Chiara Offreduccio in 1194, Clare was the eldest daughter of Favorino Scifi, the Count of Sasso-Rosso, and his deeply pious wife, Ortolana. Her family was one of the most powerful aristocratic clans in Assisi, owning a grand palace in the city and a castle on the slopes of Mount Subasio. Clare grew up destined for a life of high-society luxury, political marriages, and material security.
But as a teenager, Clare began hearing stories of a radical young man named Francis, the son of a wealthy cloth merchant, who had stripped himself of his clothes and his inheritance to live in literal poverty among the lepers. Intrigued and deeply stirred by the Holy Spirit, Clare arranged secret meetings with Francis. In him, she saw a path to living the Gospel purely, stripped of feudal expectations.
On Palm Sunday in 1212, the 18-year-old Clare snuck out of her family’s palace through the “door of the dead”—a secondary door used only to carry out corpses, symbolizing her death to her old life. She ran through the woods to the Portiuncula, the tiny chapel restored by Francis and his early brothers. There, Francis cut off her long, beautiful hair, and she traded her fine silk gown for a rough woolen habit and a thick rope belt.
When her furious father and uncles tracked her down to a nearby Benedictine convent, aiming to drag her home by force, she clung to the altar linens and bared her cropped head, declaring that she had no spouse but Jesus Christ. Her conviction was so absolute that her family ultimately retreated.
A Relationship of Equals: Clare and Francis | The bond between Saint Francis and Saint Clare is one of the most beautiful and misunderstood spiritual friendships in history. They were not romantic partners, nor was Clare a passive student blindly following a male mentor. They were spiritual soulmates and partners in a radical Gospel revolution.
While Francis was the charismatic herald traveling and preaching across Europe, Clare was the steady, silent anchor of the Franciscan movement. From her cloister at San Damiano, she prayed continuously for Francis and his friars. When Francis faced intense doubt about whether he should live as a hermit or a preacher, it was Clare who discerned his true calling, sending word that God wanted him out in the world preaching.
Later in his life, when Francis was blind, dying, and suffering from the stigmata (the wounds of Christ), he sought refuge at San Damiano. It was under Clare’s maternal care, in a small hut in her convent garden, that Francis composed his famous Canticle of the Creatures.
The Radical Power of the “Privilege of Poverty” | The true measure of Clare’s strength was her lifelong chess match with the highest authorities of the Catholic Church.
In the 13th century, women’s religious communities were strictly expected to hold property, lands, and investments to ensure their safety and survival. The Church hierarchy viewed a group of cloistered women with zero steady income as a dangerous liability.
But Clare insisted on something entirely unprecedented: The Privilege of Poverty (Privilegium Paupertatis). She did not want her sisters to own land, receive rents, or hold property. They would live entirely on daily alms, trusting completely in God’s providence.
The Papal Position:
- Pope Gregory IX offered to grant her convent lands and exempt her from her vow of absolute poverty to ensure the community’s survival.
- Pope Innocent IV sought to impose a generic, milder monastic rule upon her community to keep them aligned with standard medieval practices.
Saint Clare’s Position:
- Clare refused, famously telling the Pope: “Holy Father, absolve me from my sins, but do not absolve me from following Jesus Christ.”
- Clare wrote her own Rule of Life—the first monastic rule ever written by a woman for women—ensuring absolute Gospel poverty.
For decades, popes tried to “protect” Clare by diluting her radical vision. Clare never backed down. She used the weapons available to her—uncompromising letters, respectful defiance, and an ironclad will wrapped in deep humility.
Her ultimate victory came on her deathbed. On August 9, 1253, Pope Innocent IV finally relented and issued a papal bull officially approving Clare’s strict, propertyless Rule of Life. Two days later, on August 11, Clare passed away, clutching the signed papal document in her hands.
Why Saint Clare Matters Today | St. Clare’s legacy teaches us that gentleness is not weakness, and humility is not submission. In an age when women had virtually no agency outside of marriage or aristocratic duty, Clare carved out a space of absolute spiritual freedom. She did not gain power by accumulating wealth, but by radically giving it away, leaving the world completely empty-handed but entirely filled with God.
As we celebrate her Solemnity, let us pray for her fierce courage to protect our own spiritual values against the pressures of the world, and for the grace to depend entirely on God’s providence.
Saint Clare of Assisi, pray for us!
Peace and All Good,
Fr. Mike
