St. Clare of Assisi

St. Clare of Assisi was born Chiara Offreduccio in 1194 into a noble family in Assisi. She became the great feminine companion to St. Francis of Assisi’s evangelical movement, founder of the Poor Ladies, later called the Poor Clares, and patron of television, eye disorders, embroiderers, and those who seek poverty of spirit.

As a young woman Clare heard Francis preach and recognized in his call to poverty a way of following Christ with total freedom. On Palm Sunday night in 1212 she left her family home and went to the little chapel of the Portiuncula, where Francis received her vows and cut her hair. Her family tried to force her back, but Clare clung to the altar and remained firm. Her sister Agnes soon joined her.

Clare spent the rest of her life at San Damiano, leading a community of women dedicated to prayer, enclosure, poverty, and fraternity. She fought patiently for the “Privilege of Poverty,” insisting that her sisters not be forced to own property for security. Her Rule, approved shortly before her death, became the first rule written by a woman and approved for women in the Church.

Her life was also marked by Eucharistic faith. During an attack by Saracen soldiers in the service of Emperor Frederick II, Clare, though ill, had the Blessed Sacrament brought to the doorway of the monastery. Tradition says the attackers withdrew, and the sisters were spared. This event shaped her iconography, which often shows her holding a monstrance or ciborium.

Another tradition connected with her patronage of television says that when she was too ill to attend Christmas Mass, she was miraculously able to see and hear the liturgy from her sickbed. Pope Pius XII later named her patron of television.

Clare died on 11 August 1253 and was canonized two years later. Her body is venerated at Assisi. She left no public career, but her hidden life changed the Church: a noble woman became poor for Christ, defended radical Gospel poverty, and gave the world a form of contemplative Franciscan life that still endures.

Her friendship with St. Francis gave shape to the Franciscan family, but Clare was not simply Francis’s follower. She was a founder in her own right. Her letters to St. Agnes of Prague show theological depth, affection, and a strong sense of spiritual freedom. She urged Agnes to gaze upon Christ, poor and crucified, and to embrace Him as a mirror. The survival of those letters lets readers hear Clare’s own voice: noble, tender, disciplined, and utterly convinced that poverty for Christ was royal wealth.