St. Clare of Assisi could be considered the feminine counterpart of
Francis. She followed the preaching of St. Francis and devoted herself to a
life in poverty and humility. She took a vow of virginity and chose God as her
only lover. In 1215 she founded the Order
of the Poor Ladies (or Poor Clares)
at the church San Damiano. In contrast to the Franciscans, the Poor Ladies
didn’t moved around the country to spread their voice. The young women who
dedicated their lives to God instead lived a poor and simple life mostly in
enclosure and silence. Being close to God was their main obligation.
Born in 1193 as a
daughter of a count and a countess, Clare grew up in an upper-class family in
Assisi. Her parents expected her at the age of 12 to marry a noble man and with
this to expand the family wealth. But Clare refused and preferred to wait until
she was 18. By then she met St. Francis who preached in the streets of Assisi.
With him she talked about her desire to confide to God and both became friends.
On Palm Sunday Clare decided to leave her family behind and take on the
religious life on which she later built her order on. She met with Francis at a
chapel where she cut off her long hair and changed her fine clothes for an
ordinary woolen habit to symbolize her conversion. The painting of Giotto I chose
shows Francis and Clare in their typical brown robes with no shoes or any other
comforting attribute. Francis shows the stigmata and Clare is holding a palm,
which is referring to the night she finally devoted her life to God. In the
painting Francis and Clare seem to be connected because of their similar appearance.
Both are standing before the same background, they are the same height, they
wear same clothes and have the same halo around their head. Nevertheless they
are somewhat separated by the arch and the pillar between them. But it makes
sense in a way that they both believed in the same religious values and orders
but still lived a different life after all. Francis spread his word by traveling
and preaching whereas Clare and her sisters stayed in enclosure and silence.
They both dedicated their lives to God but in completely different ways.
Clare led her sisters for 40 years, until she
died in 1253 after 27 years of serious illness. She
was canonized a saint two years after her death.
(Fun fact: In 1958 St. Clare became the patron saint of television.
During her illness Clare was sometimes
not able to attend Mass and reportedly she could see and hear the Mass on the
wall of her rooms.)
Information from following sites:
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Good post on an interesting female saint. Good to think about how popular female saints dominate in the era of Francis. One question is whether Clare wanted enclosure or enclosure was regulated for women. However, later in Italy, and especially in cities, women will work in the community rather than be enclosed. Nevertheless, this was not the "secular" age of Burckhardt myth.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting post, i am very curious as to why females saints or saint in general decided to renounce their tittles and riches to serve God when really they could have used their high born status to possibly fund hospitals educate the poor or even feed the hungry. I think one can still be very devoted to God even with riches and titles but then again it could be because of their perception of God at the present time.
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to make a side comment on the fun fact, when i read it i honestly thought she was losing her mind a little or maybe her faith was just that strong that she didn't need to actually be in the services.
Great question, Charles. That would seem to make sense in the modern world. One strong difference is that life involved marriage, babies/birth, and perhaps a whole new set of family living arrangements. We'll see that in Italy younger women married older men, and frequently lived in their family homes. One idea to answer your question is that celibate life did remove many of the hardships for women; however, of course, creating a new set of hardships (celibacy, fasting, charity); yet one was truly honored and celebrated. It was for the special woman, that's why they are saints, and not you or me.
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