St.Claire

Saint Clare was born on July 16, 1194 in the Umbria Region of Italy, in a town called Assisi. Clare (Chiara in Italian) means clear radiant light. While growing up Clare met a person named Francis. Francis had been born 12 years before Clare. "He was her greatest inspiration, her mentor, her model." Clare and Francis were both from Assisi. Clare's family was noble. Francis's family was rich. "The nobility always looked down upon the rich as being beneath them; while the rich knew they could very often buy and sell the nobility. Francis had dishonored his family, stolen from his father to give to the beggars and the lepers. Clare found what Francis was doing for the less-fortunate fascinating. Clare told parents that she was thinking of joining St. Francis in his life of poverty.

After Clare became a Franciscan, St. Francis turned over the grounds of the San Damiano Church to her. San Damiano had been a parish church in the valley below Assisi. The following is a prayer for Saint Clare: "God of mercy, you inspired Saint Clare with the love of poverty. By the help of her prayers may we follow Christ in poverty of spirit and come to joyful vision of your glory in the Kingdom of Heaven. We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives, and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen." Saint Clare expressed to Saint Francis the desire to sanctify herself to God. Saint Clare was the founder of an order of nuns now called the Poor Clares (or Poor Ladies). The Poor Clares rule of life is based on the principles of Saint Francis. Saint Clare was sanctioned many miracles during her life and now is accepted as the second greatest Franciscan saint. Saint Clare always overcame an affectionate anxiety for the nuns in her care, even as she insisted that that no one forced them to abandon their undertake of unconditional poverty.

Saint Clare helped the society by choosing to become poor, taking an oath of poverty help other less-fortunate people. For example: beggars and lepers. Saint Clare developed the new form of life in a community for women, marked by sisterly communion, prayer and physical labor, with no established sources of proceeds. She believed in life according to the Holy Gospel. Saint Clare died on August 11, 1253 at the age 59. She was buried at the San Damiano Church. Saint Clare's feast day is August 11. I like Saint Clare because I thought she was a very