12th August, St. Clare, Virgin

St. Clare, Virgin

As God had raised at the side of St. Benedict his sister St. Scholastica, so He placed by St. Francis of Assisi, St. Clare, whom he made superioress of the second Order founded by him.

The Saint was born at Assisi, at the end of the twelfth century. On a visit to the Patriarch St. Francis, she expressed to him her desire of becoming the spouse of Christ (Epistle). As he had not yet instituted nuns of his Order, he sent the young virgin to the Benedictine nuns of St. Paul, and later on to the Benedictine monastery of St. Angelo de Panso, in the neighbourhood of Assisi.

Her sister, Agnes, having joined her, St. Francis placed them in a small house adjacent to the church of St. Damian. Very soon their mother and many other persons joined them. Their rule entailed austerities unknown until then in monasteries for women. They walked bare-footed, slept on the ground, observed perpetual abstinence, and made poverty the basis of their lives, so that by detachment they might give themselves more to God.

The extraordinary devotion of St. Clare to the Blessed Sacrament was rewarded by a miracle. On the day when the Saracens, who were besieging Assisi tried to enter the Convent of St. Damian, she held up the ciborium and put them to flight.

On August 11, 1253, she was visited by a choir of virgins, in white robes, among whom was one who surpassed in beauty all the others (Offertory), and she went to meet her spouse (Communion). Two years after she was canonized by Pope Alexander IV.

St. Francis founded three Orders: The Franciscans or First Order, the Poor Clares or Second Order and lastly, for the laity, his Third Order. The Second Order, numbered In 1935 13600 members. It gave to the Church 5 saints and 17 beatified.

Dilexisti justitiam, et odisti iniquitatem: properea unxit te Deus, Deus tuus, oleo laetitiae prae consortibus tuis. * Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum: dico ego opera mea Regi.
Thou hast loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. * My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak my works to the King.
(Psalm 44:8,2 from the Introit of Mass)

Hear us, O God our Saviour; that as we rejoice in the festivity of blessed Clare Thy Virgin, so we may be instructed in the affection of pious devotion.

(Collect)

From the Catholic Encyclopaedia: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04004a.htm