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Daughter of a count and
countess. Her father died young. After hearing Saint Francis of Assisi
preach in the streets, she confided to him her desire to live for God, the
two became close friends. On Palm Sunday 1212 the bishop presented her
with a palm, which she apparently took as a sign. Clare and her cousin
Pacifica ran away from her mother's palace during the night. She
eventually took the veil of religious profession from Francis at the
Church of Our Lady of the Angels in Assisi.
Founded the Order of Poor Ladies (Poor Clares) at San Damiano, and led it
for 40 years. Everywhere the Franciscans established themselves throughout
Europe, there also went the Poor Clares, depending solely on alms, forced
to have complete faith on God to provide through people; a lack of
land-based revenues was a new idea at the time. Clare's mother and sisters
later joined the order, and there are still thousands of members living
lives of prayer in silence.
Clare loved music and well-composed sermons. She was humble, merciful,
charming, optimistic, and chivalrous. She would get up late at night to
tuck in her sisters who'd kicked off their covers. She daily meditated on
the Passion. When she learned of the Franciscan martyrs in Morocco in
1221, she tried to go there to give her own life for God, but was
restrained. Once when her convent was about to be attacked, she displayed
the Sacrament in a monstrance at the convent gates, and prayed before it;
the attackers left.
Toward the end of her life, when she was too ill to attend Mass, an image
of the service would display on the wall of her cell; thus her patronage
of television. She was ever the close friend and spiritual student of
Francis, who apparently led her soul into the light.
Born: 16 July 1194 at Assisi, Italy
Died: 11 August 1253 of natural causes
Canonized: 26 September 1255 by Pope Alexander IV
Name Meaning: bright; brilliant
Patronage
embroiderers, eye disease, eyes, gilders, goldsmiths, gold workers, good
weather, laundry workers, needle workers, Santa Clara Indian Pueblo,
telegraphs, telephones, television, television writers
Representation: monstrance; woman with a monstrance in her hand
Readings
Go forth in peace, for you have followed the good road. Go forth without
fear, for he who created you has made you holy, has always protected you,
and loves you as a mother. Blessed be you, my God, for having created me.
Saint Clare of Assisi
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O wondrous blessed clarity of Clare!
In life she shone to a few;
after death she shines on the whole world!
On earth she was a clear light;
Now in heaven she is a brilliant sun.
O how great the vehemence of the
brilliance of this clarity!
On earth this light was indeed kept
within cloistered walls,
yet shed abroad its shining rays;
It was confined within a convent cell,
yet spread itself through the wide world.
- Pope Innocent IV
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He Christ is the splendor of eternal glory, "the brightness of eternal
light, and the mirror without cloud."
Behold, I say, the birth of this mirror. Behold Christ's poverty even as
he was laid in the manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes. What wondrous
humility, what marvelous poverty! The King of angels, the Lord of heaven
and earth resting in a manger! Look more deeply into the mirror and
meditate on his humility, or simply on his poverty. Behold the many labors
and sufferings he endured to redeem the human race. Then, in the depths of
this very mirror, ponder his unspeakable love which caused him to suffer
on the wood of the cross and to endure the most shameful kind of death.
The mirror himself, from his position on the cross, warned passers-by to
weigh carefully this act, as he said: "All of you who pass by this way,
behold and see if there is any sorrow like mine." Let us answer his cries
and lamentations with one voice and one spirit: "I will be mindful and
remember, and my soul will be consumed within me."
from a letter to Blessed Agnes of Prague by Saint Clare of Assisi
source:
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintc03.htm
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