Docile of St. Clare Eight hundred years ago, Clare of Assisi was born to the nobleman, Favarone di Offreduccio. This "new woman," as the Ministers General of the Franciscan families wrote of her in a recent letter, lived as a "little plant, in the shadow of St. Francis, who led her to the heights of Christian perfection. The celebration of such a truly evangelical creature is meant most of all to be an invitation to rediscover contemplation, that spiritual journey which only the mystics experience deeply. To read her ancient biography and her writings -- the "Form of Life, her Testament, and the four extant letters of the many she wrote to St. Agnes of Prague -- means being so immersed in the mystery of the triune God and of Christ, the Incarnate Word, as to be dazzled. Her writings are so marked by the love stirred up in her by her loving, prolonged gazing upon Christ the Lord that it is not easy to express what only a woman's heart could experience. Clare's contemplative journey, which will culminate in her vision of the "King of glory", begins precisely in her total abandonment to the Spirit of the Lord, in the same way as Mary did at the annunciation: that is to say, it begins with that spirit of poverty (cf. Luke 1:48) which empties her of everything but the simplicity of a gaze fixed on God JPII The Tavola of Saint Clare was painted in 1283 by a person we know only as the St. Clare Master; possibly commissioned by Pope Martin IV drawing on Thomas of Celano s Legend. The tavola, a painting on wood, in the Basilica of Saint Clare in Assisi, is a full-length portrait of Clare with eight insets along the sides that depict important events in her life. The events progress clockwise, from the bottom left. They depict Clare s life not as it began historically in 1193, but as it began spiritually during March and April of 1212, when she was about 18 years old, with her renunciation of the world for an austere life dedicated to the service of our Lord in devout prayer and contemplation. The panels shown here are images of the triptych in the National Shrine of Saint Francis of Assisi. Our triptych presents the scenes of the tavola in the form of a central case with two folding doors The first 5 scenes relate to her vocation in which she spurns the wealth and social standing of her family: Bishop Guido offers her the palm on Palm Sunday 1212. 1. On Palm Sunday, 1212, Bishop Guido hands an olive branch to Clare receives her olive branch from Bishop Guido and after dusk flees to the Portiuncula to consecrate herself to God 2. Clare being taken in by the friars at the Porziuncola. Clare Docile explanation 1
Francis and the friars welcome Clare at the Portiuncula The Son of God became for us the way which our blessed Father Francis has shown and taught us by word and example. She goes to the Portiuncula to be received by Francis. The legend reads: And so she ran to Saint Mary of the Portiuncula, leaving behind her home, city, and relatives. There the brothers, who were observing sacred vigils before the little altar of God, received the virgin Clare with torches. There, immediately after rejecting the filth of Babylon, she gave the world a bill of divorce (Dt.. 24:1) There, her hair shorn by the hands of the brothers, she put aside every kind of her fine dress. The world reminds us of Francis: Who left the world. The world as society names it: power, wealth, prestige. Notice how the noble women are in a stance of protection; while Clare steps forward moving toward the poverty Francis and the brothers have chosen. See their bare feet. 3. At the age of 18, Clare takes the veil Francis cuts Clare s hair and consecrates her to God. Totally love Him who gave Himself over totally for love of You. Francis would say. This is a profoundly bold move by Francis. He is not authorized to receive a woman giving her the tonsure. Remember by the time of the painting he is SAINT but in 1212 he was just Francis. Notice the legend says the brother received her and cut her hair 4. Clare s father attempts to force her to abandon her intention of taking her vows. Clare clung to the altar so as to prevent her relatives form bringing her back home: Ever since I have known the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ no suffering has been bothersome, no penance too severe,, no infirmity has been hard. Francis is not present. Clare is standing up against her family her Uncle Monaldo and his knights. She has defying her nobility. Her choice for religious life has cost the family alliances to further secure their wealth and standing. Listen to the words describing the scene in Clare s legend written by T. of Celano After she received the insignia of holy penance before the altar of the blessed Virgin and, as if before the throne of this Virgin, the humble servant was married to Christ, Saint Francis immediately led her to the church of San Paolo to remain there until the Most High would provide another place. But after the news reached her relatives, they condemned with a broken heart the deed and proposal of the virgin and, banding together as one, they ran to the place attempting to obtain what they could not. They employed violent force, poisonous advice, and flattering promises, persuading her to give up such a worthless deed that was unbecoming to her class and without precedence in her family. But, taking hold of the altar cloths, she bard her tonsured head, maintaining that she would in no way be torn away from the service of Christ. With their increasing violence of her relatives, her spirit grew and her love provoked by injuries provided strength. So, for many days, even though she endured an obstacle in the way of the Lord and her own relatives opposed her proposal of holiness, her spirit did not crumble and her fervor Clare Docile explanation 2
did not diminished. Instead, amid words and deeds of hatred, she molded her spirit anew in hope until her relatives, turning back, were quiet. Notice too that the abbess stands in protection of Clare. It is the altar that she clings to anchored in Jesus Christ. 5. Clare s sister Agnes, being held back from following Clare. After Agnes runs away from home to follow her sister Clare, her relatives try to force her to return, but her body becomes so heavy that they are unable to lift her. Dear sister, help me! Do not let me be taken form Christ the Lord.! Having left San Paolo and the Benedictines, she is now staying with Beguines. Agnes is being dragged away by Uncle Monaldo it is bad enough that Clare has defied the family, but her sister, too. This was too much. Sixteen days after the conversion of Clare, Agnes, inspired by the divine spirit, ran to her sister, revealed the secret of her will, and told her that she wished to serve God completely. Embracing her with Joy, [Clare] said: I thank God, most sweet sister, that He has heard my concern for you. A defense no less marvelous followed this conversion. For while the joyous sisters were clinging to the footprints of Christ in the church of San Angelo in Panzo and she who had heard more from the Lord was teaching her novice-sister, new attacks by relatives were quickly flaring up against the young girls. The next day, hearing that Agnes had gone off to Clare, twelve men, burning with anger and hiding outwardly their evil intent, ran to the place and pretended to make a peaceful entrance. Immediately they turned to Agnes since they had long ago lost hope of Clare said: Why have you come to this place? Get ready to return immediately with us! When she responded that she did not want to leave her sister Care, one of the knights in a fierce mood ran towards her and, without sparing blows and kicks, tried to drag her way by her hair, while the others pushed her and lifted her in their arms, AT this, as if she had been captured by lions and been torn from the hands of the Lord, the young girl cried out: Dear Sister, help me! Do not let me be taken from Christ the Lord! While the violent robbers were dragging the young girl along the slope of the mountain, ripping her clothes and strewing the path with the hair they had torn out, Clare prostrated herself in prayer with tears, begged that her sister would be given constancy of mind and the strength of humans would be overcome by divine power. Suddenly, in fact, Agnes body lying on the ground seemed so heavy that the men, many as there were, exerted all their energy and were not able to carry her beyond a certain stream. Even others, running from their fields and vineyards, attempted to give them some help, but they could in no way lift that body from the earth. They failed, they shrugged off the miracle by mocking: She has been eating lead all night, no wonder she is so heavy. Then Lord Monaldo, her enraged uncle intended to strike her a lethal blow; [but] an awful pain suddenly struck the hand he had raised and for a long time the anguish of pain afflicted it. But notice haw after the long struggle, Clare came to the place and asked her relatives to give up such a conflict and to entrust Agnes, half-dead on the ground, to her care. After they departed with a bitter spirit at their unfinished business, Clare Docile explanation 3
Agnes got up joyfully and, already rejoicing in the cross of Christ for which she had struggled in this first battle, gave her perpetually to the divine service. In fact, Blessed Francis cut off her hair with his own hand and directed her together with her sister in the way of the Lord. 6. During a shortage of food in 1238, Clare blesses the loaves and they are multiplied for the sisters. Clare s faith obtains from God the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves: He who feeds the birds of the heavens and clothes the lilies of the fields will not fail you in either food or clothing. 7. Clare on her deathbed, in 1253 Apparition of the Virgin Mary to Clare before her death. May you cling to the most sweet Mother who bore a Son as the Heaven could not contain. 8. Clare s funeral attended by the Pope. The one who created me has ever taken care of me as a mother does her tiny child whom she tenderly loves. May you be blessed, O Lord, You who crated me. For more than forty years she retired to monastic life in the church of San Damiano in extreme poverty and simplicity. Her Rule was officially approved in 1252 by Pope Innocent IV who, when he arrived to St. Damiano to give the benediction to the Order of "the Clarisse" also had to officiate the funeral rites of the Saint died on August 11th 1253. The rite was characterized by the fact that the Pope did not want that was song the mass of requiem but the celebration rite of the virgins. In the fullest meaning of the word she was truly his * sister light * Not only by her advice and prayers, but also by the transparent beauty of her life and her whole being. When everything seemed to be crashing down around Francis, she was the living example of fidelity to his primitive ideal, to pure Gospel simplicity. She lived in God's time, like the stars, *clear, lovely and beautiful.* Without many words she made Francis understand that peace of heart was the highest form of poverty, the peace that comes from total surrender of self to God." Reflection: Reflect on your life. What are those moments that you made decisions about that have been significant?...moments that have brought you to THIS day. If your friends spoke of you, what would they identify as important that characterize you? Are they the same ones that you would have picked? AFTER explanation: Clare was bold she made a decision contrary to the norms of her position and standing in society. She followed her heart. She chose to follow Christ. What kind of listening does that take? What does your heart desire? How do you listen? Are you afraid to listen? What are might you be afraid to hear? Clare Docile explanation 4
What you hold, may you (always) hold, What you do, may you (always) do and never abandon.but with swift pace, light step, (and) unswerving feet, so that even your steps stir up no dust, go forward securely, joyfully, and swiftly on the path of prudent happiness, believing nothing, agreeing with nothing which would dissuade you from this resolution or which would place a stumbling block for you on the way, so that you may offer your vows to the Most High in the pursuit of that perfection to which the Spirit of the Lord has called you. --St. Clare of Assisi Clare Docile explanation 5