IN TODAY’S LIVES OF THE SAINTS AND MARTYRS, THE FOUNDRESS OF THE POOR CLARES

Winchester, VA – Chiara Offreduccio was born in 1194, the daughter of a wealthy father and a devout mother. The faith came easy to her, and she devoted herself to prayer. At 18, she heard St. Francis of Assisi preach and she asked him to help her live according to the Gospel. On Palm Sunday 1212, she met Francis at the chapel of the Porziuncula, had her hair cut, and traded her ornate clothing for a simple robe and veil. Clare’s father came to the Benedictine convent where she had been placed to force her return home, but clinging to the altar, she declared she would never have any husband other than Jesus Christ. Eventually Clare and her followers were known as the “Poor Ladies of San Damiano.” We now call them “Poor Clares”. It is said that when Frederick II’s soldiers were advancing upon Assisi, a very ill St. Clare emerged from the Monastery with the Blessed Sacrament and had Jesus placed at the wall where He would be visible to the soldiers. After pleading with God and receiving a consoling message from Him, the soldiers behaved as if they had received some sort of unexplained fright and they fled.  St. Clare, pray for us!

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