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.
Clare was born in Assisi, Italy as the eldest daughter of Favorino Scifi, Count of Sasso-Rosso and his wife Ortolana. Ortolana was a very devout woman who had undertaken pilgrimages to Rome, Santiago de Compostela and the Holy Land. Later on in her life, Ortolana entered Clare's monastery, together with Agnes, Clare's sister. Clare was always devoted to prayer as a child. When she turned 15 her parents wanted her to marry a young and wealhy man but she originally wanted to wait until she was 18. But when she was 18 she had heard Francis's preachings. Those preachings were beginning to change her life. He told her she was a chosen soul from God. Soon on Palm Sunday when people went to grab their palm branches she stayed. On that very night she ran away to go follow Francis. When she got there he cut her hair and dressed her in a black tunic and a thick black veil. Clare was put in the Benedictine nuns near Bastia and was almost pulled by her father for originally he wanted her to marry at age of 15.Clare and her sister Agnes soon moved to the church of San Damiano, which Francis himself had rebuilt. Other women joined them there, and San Damiano became known for its radically austere lifestyle. The women were at first known as the "Poor Ladies".
San Damiano became the focal point for Clare's new religious order, which was known in her lifetime as the "Order of San Damiano." San Damiano was long thought to be the first house of this order, however, recent scholarship strongly suggests that San Damiano actually joined an existing network of women's religious houses organized by Hugolino (who later became Pope Gregory IX). Hugolino wanted San Damiano as part of the order he founded because of the prestige of Clare's monastery. San Damiano emerged as the most important house in the order, and Clare became its undisputed leader. By 1263, just ten years after Clare's death, the order became known as the Order.
Unlike the Franciscan friars, whose members moved around the country to preach, Saint Clare's sisters lived in enclosure, since an itinerant life was hardly conceivable at the time for women. Their life consisted of manual labour and prayer.
For a short period of time the order was directed by Francis himself. Then in 1216, Clare accepted the role of abbess of San Damiano. As abbess, Clare had more authority to lead the order than when she was the prioress, who had to follow the orders of a priest heading the community. Clare defended her order from the attempts of prelates to impose a rule on them that more closely resembled the Rule of St Benedict than Francis' stricter vows. Clare sought to imitate Francis' virtues and way of life so much so that she was sometimes titled alter Franciscus, another Francis.[6] She also played a significant role in encouraging and aiding Francis, whom she saw as a spiritual father figure, and she took care of him during his illnesses at the end of his life, until his death in 1226.
After Francis's death, Clare continued to promote the growth of her order, writing letters to abbesses in other parts of Europe and thwarting every attempt by each successive pope to impose a Rule on her order which watered down the radical commitment to corporate poverty she had originally embraced. She did this despite the fact that she had endured a long period of poor health until her death. Clare's Franciscan theology of joyous poverty in imitation of Christ is evident in the Rule she wrote for her community and in her four letters to Agnes of Prague.
on September 17, 1228 the pope sent her letters because she had filled him with admiration. The letters he sent her were for ways to view her grant.
On August 9, 1253, the Papal bull Solet annuere of Pope Innocent IV confirmed that Clare's Rule would serve as the governing rule for Clare's Order of Poor Ladies. Two days later, on August 11, Clare died at the age of 59. Her remains were interred at the chapel of San Giorgio while a church to hold her remains was being constructed.
Date |
Name of the Friars |
Events |
Year |
01 |
Charles Mathew Kolanchery |
Birth |
1947 |
02 |
Joseph Raj M. |
Birth |
1975 |
03 | Bl. Helene Enselmini, OSC | 1242 |
|
04 |
St. Charles Borromeo, OFS Bl. Teresa Manganiello, OFS Charles Bernard |
Birth |
1584 1876 1963 |
05 |
Lawrence Simon Bala Marneni + Thomas Thannikary + Bernard D’ Silva |
Birth Birth Home Home |
1949 1962 1996 2010 |
06 |
Bl. Marguerite deLorraine, OSC Singarayar A. Salvador D’Souza |
Birth Birth |
1521 1970 1979 |
07 |
St. Didacus of Alcala, OFM Bl. Raynier of Arezzo, OFM Hemant Xess |
Birth |
1463 304 1975 |
08 | Bl. John Duns Scouts OFM | 1308; |
|
09 |
Bl. Gabriel Ferreti, OFM Saji P. Mathew |
Birth |
1456 1975 |
10 |
Bl. Louis Guanella, OFS Augustine Pinto + Wilbert Smit |
Birth Home |
1340 1936 2003 |
11 |
Bl. Mary Crucifixa, OFS Fulgence Ekka Basil S. Lobo |
Birth Birth |
1826 1964 1971 |
12 | Bl. Giovanni della Pace, OFS | 1433 |
|
13 | St. Didace d’ Alcala, OFM | 1463 |
|
14 |
Franciscan Martyrs of Palestine + Mark O’Rourke Salvador Drego |
Home Birth |
1391 1974 1984 |
15 |
Bl. Sebastian de Jesus OFM Bl. Mary of the Passion FMM + Anthony Almeida |
Memoria Home |
1734 1904 1970 |
17 |
St. Elizabeth of Hungary Patroness of the OFS Bl. Jeanne de Signa, OFS |
|
 1231   1307  |
18 |
Bl. Salome of Cracow, OFS  |
|
1268 |
19 |
St. Agnes of Assisi, OSC Bl. Maria Milagros, OSC Thomas Joseph +Kamal Ekka |
Birth Home |
1253 1936 1962 2008 |
20 |
Franciscan Martyrs of Spain Irudayaraj Fernando + Bonaventure Davis + Bishop Ambrose Y +Jesu Irudayam |
Birth Home Home Home |
1936 1966 1971 1997 2009 |
22 |
Franciscan Martyrs of Armenia +Joachim Tinneny |
|
1895 2009 |
23 |
Bl. Marie de Jesus, Third Order Regular + John C. O’Dowda Maria Ratheesh Jenive |
Home Birth |
1902 1982 1999 |
24 |
Bl. Timothy Trajonowski, Conv Rajesh Praveen Kumar |
Birth |
1942 1994 |
25 |
All Deceased of the Seraphic Order St. Humilis of Bisgnano, OFM Bl. Elizabeth of Reute, Third Order Regular Carlos Dias Tojy M. |
Birth Birth |
1637 1420 1959 1970 |
26 |
St. Leonard of Port Maurice, OFM Balthazar Pinto |
Feast Birth |
1751 1960 |
27 |
St. Francis Anthony Fasani, Conv Johnson M. V. |
Feast Birth |
1742 1969 |
28 | St. Jams of La Marca, OFM | Feast | 1476 |
29 |
All Saints of the Seraphic Order Dependent Custody Foundation,North East. Amaladass Manickam |
Feast Erection Ordination |
2008 1985 |
30 |
Bl. Antoine Bonfandini, OFM Prasad Papabathuni |
Birth |
1482 1970 |