|


 


 

O Assisi
Assisi,,
12 miles outside of
Perugia
 
 

O Ôather : Ôavorino Scifi

Count of Sasso
Sasso--Rosso the wealthy
representative of an ancient Roman family

O Mother : Blessed Ortolana belonged to the noble

family of Ôiumi
: was conspicuous for her zeal and piety
piety..
: devout woman
: undertaken pilgrimages
:Later on in her life, entered Clare's
monastery..
monastery

ARLY CHILDHOOD
O Clare seemed to have been endowed
with the rarest virtues
virtues..
O As a child she was most devoted to
prayer and to practices of mortification
mortification,,
and as she passed into girlhood her
distaste for the world and her yearning
for a more spiritual life increased.
 INSPIRATION
O She was eighteen years of age when St.
Ôrancis came to preach the Lenten course in
the church of San Giorgio at Assisi
Assisi..
O The inspired words of the `
 kindled a
flame in the heart of Clare
O She sought him out secretly and begged him to
help her that she too might live "after the
manner of the holy Gospel".
Gospel".
O St. Ôrancis,
Ôrancis, who at once recognized in
Clare one of those chosen souls destined
by God for great things, and who also,
doubtless, foresaw that many would follow
her example, promised to assist her.
 MARCH 20, 1212
(PALM SUNDAY)

O She attended high Mass at the cathedral

cathedral,,
but when the others pressed forward to the
altar--rail to receive a branch of palm,
altar palm, she
remained in her place as if rapt in a dream.
dream.
All eyes were upon the young girl as the
bishop descended from the sanctuary and
placed the palm in her hand. That was the
last time the world beheld Clare.
MARCH 20, 1212
(PALM SUNDAY)
O On the night of the same
day she secretly left her
father's house, by St.
Ôrancis's advice
O accompanied by her
aunt Bianca and another
companion, and
proceeded to the humble
chapel of the
Porziuncula,, where St.
Porziuncula
Ôrancis and his disciples
met her with lights in
their hands.
 MARCH 20, 1212
(PALM SUNDAY)
O Clare then laid aside her rich dress,
and St. Ôrancis,
Ôrancis, having cut off her
hair,, clothed her in a rough tunic and
hair
a thick veil, and in this way the young
heroine vowed herself to the service
of Jesus Christ.
Christ.
 PLAC
S
O Clare lived for a brief period in a nearby
Benedictine monastery of nunsnuns,, |

`   
O Ôor a short period at a house of female
penitents, |

 
`

on
Monte Subasio
O Soon her sister, St. Agnes joined her and they soon moved to the
church of San Damiano,
Damiano, which Ôrancis himself had rebuilt. Other
women joined them there, and San Damiano became known for its
radically austere lifestyle who wanted to be brides of Jesus, and live
without any money. The women were at first known as the "Poor
Ladies". St. Clare and her sisters wore no shoes, ate no meat, lived
in a poor house, and kept silent most of the time. Yet they were very
happy, because Our Lord was close to them all the time. Once, He
saved them from a great danger in answer to St. Clare's prayer. An
army of rough soldiers came to attack Assisi and they planned to
raid the convent first. Although very sick, St. Clare had herself
carried to the wall and right there, where the enemies could see it,
she had the Blessed Sacrament placed. Then on her knees, she
begged God to save the Sisters.
O O Lord, protect these Sisters whom I cannot protect
now," she prayed. A voice seemed to answer: "I will
keep them always in My care." At the same time a
sudden fright struck the attackers and they fled as fast
as they could. St. Clare was sick and suffered great
pains for many years, but she said that no pain could
trouble her. So great was her joy in serving the Lord that
she once exclaimed: "They say that we are too poor, but
can a heart which possesses the infinite God be truly
called poor?" We should remember this miracle of the
Blessed Sacrament when in Church. Then we will pray
with great Ôaith to Jesus in the Holy
ucharist: "Save
me, O Lord, from every evil - of soul and body." Her feast
day is August 11.
O 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
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 of Saint
Clare..
Clare
O Unlike the Ôranciscan friars,
friars, whose
members moved around the country to
preach, Saint Clare's sisters lived in
enclosure,, since an itinerant life was
enclosure
hardly conceivable at the time for women.
Their life consisted of manual labour and
prayer.
O Ôor a short period of time the order was directed by
Ôrancis 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
prioress
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 Ôrancis'
stricter vows. Clare sought to imitate Ôrancis' virtues and
way of life so much so that she was sometimes titled

  ,

  , another Ôrancis. She also played a
significant role in encouraging and aiding Ôrancis, 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.
O After Ôrancis's death, Clare continued to
promote the growth of her order, writing letters to
abbesses in other parts of
urope 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 Ôranciscan
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..
Prague


 
BASILICA OÔ ST. CLAR
, ASSISI
O On August 9, 1253, the
Papal bull | 

 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 |
 
while a church to hold her
remains was being
constructed.
O On August 15, 1255, Pope Alexander IV
canonized Clare as Saint Clare of Assisi.
Construction of the Basilica of Saint Clare was
completed in 1260, and on October 3 of that
year Clare's remains were transferred to the
newly completed basilica where they were
buried beneath the high altar.
altar. In further
recognition of the saint, Pope Urban IV officially
changed the name of the Order of Poor Ladies
to the Order of Saint Clare in 1263.
O Some 600 years later in 1872, Saint
Clare's remains were transferred to a
newly constructed shrine in the crypt of the
Basilica of Saint Clare where they can still
be seen today.
O —

O Pope Pius XII designated her as the
patron saint of television in 1958, on the
basis that when she was too ill to attend
Mass,, she had reportedly been able to see
Mass
and hear it on the wall of her room. The

ternal Word Television Network (
WTN)
was founded by a Poor Clare nun nun,, Mother
Angelica..
Angelica
O In art, Clare is often shown carrying a
monstrance or pyxpyx,, in commemoration of
the time when she warded away the
soldiers of Ôrederick II at the gates of her
convent by displaying the Blessed
Sacrament and kneeling in prayer.
O Lake Saint Clair and the Saint Clair River in the
Great Lakes region of North America were
named on her feast day August 11, 1679.
Mission Santa Clara,
Clara, founded by Spanish
missionaries in northern California in 1777, has
given its name to the university
university,, city
city,, county
county,, and
valley in which it sits. Southern California's
Santa Clara River is hundreds of miles to the
south, and gave its name to the nearby city of
Santa Clarita.
Clarita. Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico
celebrates its Santa Clara Ôeast Day annually
on August 11.
O In the Tridentine Calendar her feast day is
celebrated as a Double on August 11. It
was changed to a Third-
Third-Class Ôeast in
1960 (see General Roman Calendar of
1962),
1962 ), and in the 1969 calendar became
an obligatory Memorial celebrated on the
day of her death, August 11. Although her
body is no longer claimed to be incorrupt
incorrupt,,
her skeleton is displayed in Assisi.
 £
 




C-5 Katipunan Avenue, Quezon
City 1108 Philippines
O Description:
O This monastery is where nuns of the Order of
Saint Clare of Assisi (usually called Poor Clares)
lead a life of prayer and contemplation, having
renounced the world and earthly possessions.
The church is a lovely cream-
cream-colored building
that is very much in the mold of Spanish-
Spanish-built
mission churches in California, U.S.A. Carrying
on an old tradition, people often come here with
offerings (usually eggs) and ask the saintly nuns
to pray for good weather.
O 











 


 
 
O SARIAYA, QU
ON ² Ôor most people
visiting the province of Quezon, the
mystical Mt. Banahaw is the perfect spot
for prayer and contemplation. But there¶s
one place just at the foot of Banahaw
where many flock to offer a dozen eggs in
exchange for prayer offerings by nuns.
O The 53-
53-year
year--old Monastery of St. Clare (Monasterio de
Santa Clara), founded by a group of nuns from the Order
of Saint Clare of Assisi (usually called Poor Clares) on
June 9, 1957, has been the main destination of people,
especially Sariayans, who petition for prayers. It is
patterned after the very first St. Clare Monastery
established in the country now located on Katipunan
Avenue in Quezon City. The monastery in Sariaya can
be easily found along Maharlika highway (the road
leading to Lucena and other neighboring towns in
Quezon), on the left side of the road going south, right
before the town proper of Sariaya. It is roughly a three-
three-
hour drive from Manila.
O In the main hall where petitioners as well as
visiting relatives of nuns are allowed to stay, a
small wooden turn could be found where
offerings are dropped. One has to knock first to
notify the sister-
sister-in-
in-charge that an offering has
been placed. A separate box, also inside the
turn, serves as the drop box for written petitions
or mass intentions. Since the Poor Clares are
strictly prohibited from seeing others (except
relatives but only on certain occasions dictated
by the Order), one would only hear a voice
notifying the visitor that the offering has been
received.
O The traditional offering of food in exchange
for prayer offerings by nuns is practiced in
many convents or monasteries. But here
at the Monastery of St. Clare, offering a
dozen eggs has become a custom unique
to the congregation.
O It is believed that offering eggs to the Poor
Clares in exchange for prayer petition of a
good weather, works. By tradition, a dozen
eggs (representing the twelve months of
the year) is offered even if one wishes only
for a day or two without rain.
O There really is no one true explanation how this
tradition came about. But in Dr. Alejandro Roces¶
book ³Ôiesta,´ he theorized that this may have
something to do with Sta. Clara¶s name. ³Clara´
in Castillian means ³a short interval of fair
weather on a rainy day.´ In Spanish however,
³clara´ pertains to the albumen or egg white.
This then translates to offering claras (egg
whites) to Sta. Clara to pray for a clara (fair
weather) during a rainy day.
O At the Monastery of St. Clare in Quezon City, the
tradition of offering eggs is also tailored for other
intentions. Vendors outside the monastery could
be seen selling eggs wrapped in colored
cellophane, each color representing a different
wish category. Yet it is important to note that the
power of prayer does not depend on the eggs or
whatever material offering. Always, it is through
strong faith that prayers are heard.