Clare of Assisi
1194 CE–1253 CE · Assisi
Clare of Assisi (1194–1253) was an Italian noblewoman who became a dedicated follower of Francis of Assisi and founded the Order of Poor Ladies, later known as the Poor Clares, committed to radical evangelical poverty. She spent virtually her entire religious life at the monastery of San Damiano in Assisi, leading the community she gathered there for over forty years. Clare is historically notable as the first woman known to have composed a monastic Rule that received formal papal approval, the Rule of Saint Clare confirmed by Pope Innocent IV on 9 August 1253, two days before her death. Her Letters to Agnes of Prague and her Testament offer rare direct testimony of her spirituality and her fierce insistence on the "privilege of poverty" — the right to hold no common property — against repeated papal pressure to accept endowments. She was canonized by Pope Alexander IV on 26 September 1255, only two years after her death.
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AssisiItaly
What they did here
Born into the noble Offreduccio family in Assisi; according to tradition she heard Francis preach and was moved to renounce her wealth at around age eighteen.
About Assisi
Assisi, a hill town in Umbria, central Italy. It was the birthplace and centre of Francis of Assisi (d. 1226) and Clare of Assisi, founders of the Franciscan and Poor Clare orders.
In Assisi at the same time
In the same place & time
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In the same tradition
The world in their lifetime
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