Clare of Assisi

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Saint Clare of Assisi
Simone Martini, detail depicting Saint Clare from a fresco (1312–20) in the Lower basilica of San Francesco, Assisi
Confessor
Born	July 16, 1194 in Assisi, Italy
Died	August 11, 1253 in Assisi, Italy
Venerated in	Roman Catholic, Anglican
Canonized	September 26, 1255 by Pope Alexander IV
Major shrine	Basilica of St. Claire
Feast	August 11 (alternates: September 23, October 3)
Attributes	monstrance, pyx
Patronage	clairvoyance, eyes, gilders, gold, good weather, needleworkers, Santa Clara Pueblo, telephones, telegraphs, television
Saints Portal

Saint Clare of Assisi, born Chiara Offreduccio, (July 16, 1194 – August 11, 1253) was one of the first followers of Francis of Assisi and founded the Order of Poor Ladies to organize the women who chose to embrace monastic life in the Franciscan vision .

Clare was born in Assisi, Italy in 1194 as the eldest daughter of Favorino Scifi, Count of Sasso-Rosso. In 1210, Clare heard Francis preaching in the streets of Assisi about his new mendicant order (then newly-approved by Pope Innocent III) and was moved by his words. On March 20, 1212, Clare and her sister Agnes fled their home to follow Francis, who received them into religious life. She and her sister had their hair cut short and put on rough tunics to indicate their acceptance of the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and stayed with a nearby monastery of Benedictine nuns until moving to San Damiano, where Clare and Agnes founded the Order of Poor Ladies (also then known as the Order of San Damiano).

In 1216, Clare accepted the role of abbess at San Damiano, and defended her order from the attempts of prelates to impose a rule on them that more closely resembled the Rule of St Benedict than Francis' stricter vows. Clare also played a significant role in encouraging and aiding Francis, whom she saw as a spiritual father figure: she took care of him during his illnesses at the end of his life, until his death in 1226.

After Francis's death, Clare continued to promote the growth of her order, writing letters to abbesses in other parts of Europe and thwarting every attempt by each successive Pope to impose a Rule on her order which watered down the radical commitment to corporate poverty she had originally embraced. She did this despite the fact that she had endured a long period of poor health until her death.

She is known for her loyalty to Saint Francis.

On August 9, 1253, the Papal bull Solet annure of Pope Innocent IV confirmed that Clare's Rule would serve as the governing rule for the Order of Poor Ladies. Two days later, on August 11, Clare died at the age of 59.

On August 15, 1255, Pope Alexander IV canonized Clare as St Clare of Assisi. In 1263, Pope Urban IV officially changed the name of the Order of Poor Ladies to the Order of Saint Clare.

On February 17, 1958, Pope Pius XII designated her as the patron saint of television, on the basis that, when she was too ill to attend a Mass, she had been miraculously able to see and hear it on the wall of her room. The Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) was founded by Mother Angelica, a Poor Clare

In art, she is shown carrying a monstrance or pyx, in commemoration of the time when she warded away attackers at the gates of her convent by raising the Blessed Sacrament over the wall.

Lake Saint Clair (North America) and the Saint Clair River were named on her feast day August 12, 1679. Since 1970, her feast day has been the date of her death August 11 in the revised liturgical calendar. Although her body is no longer incorrupt, her skeleton was found to be in a perfect state of preservation and is displayed in Assisi.