Clare of 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.