Content deleted Content added
m #article-change-desc Tags: Mobile edit Mobile app edit iOS app edit |
Kaliforniyka (talk | contribs) |
||
| (14 intermediate revisions by 11 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{Short description|Foundress of the Franciscan Second Order
{{about|an Italian saint|other saints with similar names|Saint Clare (disambiguation)|other people named Clare|Clare (disambiguation)}}
{{pp-move}}
Line 10:
|birth_date={{birth date|1194|7|16|df=y}}
|death_date={{death date and age|1253|8|11|1194|7|16|df=y}}
|feast_day= 11 August
|venerated_in=[[
|image = Simone Martini 047.jpg
|caption = Detail depicting Saint Clare from a [[fresco]] ({{circa|1320}}) by [[Simone Martini]] in the [[Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi|Lower basilica of San Francesco]], Assisi
Line 23:
|canonized_place=Rome
|canonized_by=[[Pope Alexander IV]]
|attributes=[[Monstrance]], [[pyx]], [[oil lamp|lamp]], [[crozier]], [[Religious habit|habit of the Poor Clares]]
|patronage=Eye disease, goldsmiths, laundry, television, bicycle messengers, good weather, needleworkers, remote viewing, extrasensory perception
|major_shrine=[[Basilica of Saint Clare]], Assisi
}}
'''Chiara Offreduccio''' (16 July 1194 – 11 August 1253), known as '''Clare of Assisi''' (sometimes spelled ''Clara'', ''Clair'' or ''Claire''; {{
Inspired by the teachings of St. Francis, she founded the [[Poor Clares|Order of Poor Ladies]], a [[Monasticism|monastic]] [[religious order]] for women in the [[Franciscan]] tradition. The Order of Poor Ladies was different from any other order or convent because it followed a rule of strict poverty.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Grau |first=Engelbert |date=1992 |title=Saint Clare's privilegium Paupertatis Its History and Significance |journal=Greyfriars Review |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=327}}</ref> Clare wrote their Rule of Life, the first set of monastic guidelines 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. Her feast day is on 11 August.
Line 34:
==Early life==
[[File:SDamiano-Clara og søstre.jpg|thumb|left|Fresco of Saint Clare and sisters of her order, church of [[San Damiano, Assisi]]]]
Clare was born in [[Assisi]] to the Offreduccio household during the [[Italy in the Middle Ages#High Middle Ages (11th–13th centuries)|High Middle Ages]], the eldest daughter of Favarone<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Natali |first1=Costanzo |last2=Donno |first2=Cristina |title=Santa Chiara d'Assisi: La sua vita |url=http://www.fraticappuccini.it/santachiara/vita.htm |access-date=26 November 2018 |publisher=Conferenza Italiana Ministri Provinciali Cappuccini |language=it}}</ref> or Favorino Sciffi, Count of Sasso-Rosso, and his wife [[Ortolana]]. Traditional accounts say that Clare's father was a wealthy representative of an ancient Roman family, who owned a large palace in Assisi and a castle on the slope of [[Mount Subasio]].<ref name="Robinson">Robinson, Paschal (1908). [[wikisource:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/St. Clare of Assisi|"St. Clare of Assisi."]] ''The Catholic Encyclopedia''. '''4.''' New York: Robert Appleton Company.</ref> Ortolana belonged to the noble family of Fiumi, and was a very devout woman who had undertaken pilgrimages to Rome, [[Santiago de Compostela]], and the [[Holy Land]]. Later in life, after being widowed, Ortolana entered Clare's monastery
Clare's younger sisters, Beatrix and Catarina, followed her into religious life. ( As children, Clare and her sisters were taught the ways of Christianity by their mother; they all became very religious and devoted to prayer. When Clare was 12 years old, her parents wanted her to marry a wealthy young man; however, she protested and said that she did not want to marry until she turned 18. As a teen, she heard Francis preach during a Lenten service in the church of San Giorgio at Assisi.
Inspired by his words and knowing that marriage was rapidly approaching, Clare went to Francis and asked him to help her to live after the manner of the Gospel.<ref name=":0" /> On the evening of [[Palm Sunday]], 20 March 1212, with the consent of Guido II, bishop of Assisi, Clare left her father's house accompanied by her aunt Bianca and another companion, and proceeded to the chapel of the [[Porziuncula]] to meet Francis. There, her hair was cut, and she exchanged her rich gown for a plain robe and veil.<ref name="Robinson" /> Fully cutting a woman's hair was a symbolic act showing that she was no longer bound by the laws of man or society but rather that she followed the will of God.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Botkin |first=Gene |date=26 April 2023 |title=Do Nuns Shave Their Heads? |url=https://www.theosischristian.com/do-nuns-shave-their-heads/ |access-date=26 April 2023 |website=theosischristian}}</ref>
== Life in the convent ==
[[File:Saint-clare-of-assisi-saving-a-child-from-a-wolf--22241.jpg|thumb|Saint Clare intervenes to save a child from a wolf; panel by [[Giovanni di Paolo]], 1455.]]
[[File:Saint-Clare-Vows- Franciscan-Sisters-Christian-Charity-Convent.jpg|alt=Saint Clare of Assisi Window at Holy Family Convent Manitowoc WI|thumb|Saint Clare makes vows into the hands of Saint Francis. Stained glass window in the convent of the Holy family in Manitowoc, Wisconsin]]
Francis placed Clare in the convent of the [[Benedictine]] [[nuns]] of San Paulo, near Bastia. Her father, along with other members of her family, attempted to convince her to return home. At first, they tried to persuade her by enticing her with wealth, and
Finally, when they tried to use force she clung to the altar of the church and threw aside her veil to show her cropped hair.<ref name="Foley">Foley, Leonard, (revised by McCloskey, Pat). [https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-clare-of-assisi/ "Saint Clare of Assisi"], ''Saint of the Day'', Franciscan Media.</ref> It was only after seeing her cropped hair that her family relented and left her in peace.<ref name=":1" /> In order to provide the greater solitude Clare desired, a few days later Francis sent her to Sant' Angelo in Panzo, another monastery of the Benedictine nuns on one of the flanks of Subasio.
Line 49 ⟶ 51:
Her sister Catarina unexpectedly joined Clare 16 days later and took the name 'Agnes'. This caused a tremendous uproar in Clare's family as now two of their girls had refused marriage and left the family. Clare's uncle Monaldo, who was head of the family, came to Sant' Angelo with a group of men to bring Agnes back. He confronted Agnes forcefully while Clare was praying for her sister's safety. In the end, Monaldo left empty-handed as he and his men failed to force Agnes to return home.<ref name=":1" />
The sisters remained with the Benedictines until a small dwelling was built for them next to the church of [[San Damiano, Assisi|San Damiano]], which Francis had repaired some years earlier.<ref name="Robinson" /> The dwelling was built hastily, as Francis and the Benedictines feared further conflict with Monaldo and other relatives of Clare and Agnes. Other women joined the sisters, and they became known as the "Poor Ladies of San Damiano". They lived a simple life of poverty, austerity, and seclusion from the world, according to a Rule which Francis gave them as a [[Second Order (religious)|Second Order]] (Poor Clares).<ref name="Foley" /><ref name="SHMI" />
[[File:SanDamianoAssisiDec132023 02.jpg|thumb|[[San Damiano, Assisi|San Damiano]]]]
San Damiano became the centre of Clare's new religious order, which was known in her lifetime as the "Order of Poor Ladies of San Damiano". San Damiano is traditionally considered the first house of this order; it may have been affiliated with an existing network of women's religious houses organised 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.<ref>Alberzoni, Maria Pia. ''Clare of Assisi and the Poor Sisters in the Thirteenth Century''. St. Bonaventure, New York: Franciscan Institute, 2004.</ref> 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 had become known as the [[Order of Saint Clare]].
Unlike the [[Franciscan friars]], whose members moved around the country to preach, Clare's sisters lived in [[Enclosed religious orders|enclosure]], since an itinerant life was hardly conceivable at the time for women. Their life consisted of manual labour{{sfn|Bartoli|1993|p=92ff}} and prayer. The nuns went barefoot, slept on the ground, ate no meat, and observed almost complete silence.<ref name="Foley" /> This was in accordance with the strict teachings of poverty assigned to Clare by Francis. Francis and Clare believed that through poverty they could become closer to Jesus as they would live the way he did. They were not inconvenienced by this lifestyle, but rather they believed it was a blessing, as they were following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.<ref name=":1" />
For a short period, the order was directed by Francis himself.{{sfn|Bartoli|1993|p=95}} In 1216, however, Clare reluctantly accepted the role of [[abbess]] of San Damiano. As abbess, Clare had more authority to lead the order than when she was the [[prioress]] and required to follow the orders of a priest heading the community.{{sfn|Bartoli|1993|p=96}} Clare did not care for titles or power within the Order, and took on the role of abbess only on the instruction of Francis.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Schlosser |first=Marianne |date=1991 |title=Mother, Sister, Bride: The Spirituality of St. Clare |journal=Greyfriars Review |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=235}}</ref> Clare referred to herself by such terms as mother, handmaid, or servant rather than an abbess.<ref name=":2" /> She was very shy and did not like giving orders.<ref name=":2" /> On the rare occasions when she would give orders, she would do so with great humility and shyness.<ref name=":2" /> Clare would purposefully save the most tedious tasks for herself because she always wished to take care of her sisters.<ref name=":2" /> Clare sought to imitate Francis's virtues and way of life so much so that she was sometimes titled {{lang|la|alter Franciscus}}, 'another Francis'.{{sfn|Bartoli|1993|p=171ff}} 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 final illness.
Line 100 ⟶ 102:
The first convent in Cuba, [[Convento de Santa Clara de Asis]], was dedicated to Saint Clare, as well as [[Santa Clara, Cuba|her namesake city]] and its cathedral, [[Catedral de Santa Clara de Asís]]. Columbus's ship known as ''[[Niña (ship)|Niña]]'', which visited Cuba twice, was officially named ''Santa Clara''.
Clare is one of five characters in the [[oratorio]] ''[[Laudato si' (oratorio)|Laudato si'<nowiki/>]]'', composed in 2016 by [[Peter Reulein]] on a [[libretto]] by [[Helmut Schlegel]], the others being an angel, [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Mary]], Francis of Assisi, and [[Pope Francis]].<ref name="LS-score">{{Cite book |last1=Reulein |first1=Peter |title=Laudato si' / Ein franziskanisches Magnificat |last2=Schlegel |first2=Helmut |publisher=[[Patrick Dehm|Dehm Verlag]] |year=2016 |isbn=978-3-943302-34-9 |location=[[Limburg an der Lahn]] |ismn=979-0-50226-047-7 |author-link=Peter Reulein |author-link2=Helmut Schlegel}}</ref>
Clare of Assisi is [[Calendar of saints (Church of England)|remembered]] in the [[Church of England]] and other churches of the [[Anglican Communion]] with a [[Lesser Festival (Anglicanism)|Lesser Festival]] on 11 August.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Calendar |url=https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/calendar |access-date=27 March 2021 |website=The Church of England }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Church |first=The Episcopal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xb5UzwEACAAJ |title=Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2022 |date=2023-01-24 |publisher=Church Publishing, Incorporated |isbn=978-1-64065-627-7 }}</ref>
| |||