Christian Women of the Medieval Era – Part 42

Christian Women in the Medieval Era – Part 42

Introduction

First of all I want to say that I do not like WordPress’s new block system. It won’t allow me to add pictures. So I am sorry not to have some good images for you.

God called and gifted many women to serve Him during the Middle Ages. What we call the “Middle Ages” or the Medieval period lasted from around 500 AD to 1500 AD. From Genovefa (423 – 502) through Elizabeth of Portugal (1271- 1336) we have told the stories of God’s faithful and humble servants. There were queens, abbesses, nuns, Beguines, Franciscan sisters, writers, godly wives, mothers, empresses, social reformers, and many other women who served Christ. 

Many of the saintly women in the thirteenth century and beyond were influenced by the Franciscans. Because there were three orders in the Franciscan body many people could serve Christ full time. Men who took the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience would be part of the First Order. Francis helped Clare found the Second Order of sisters who also took the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. There would be a Third Order established for lay people. Married people and wealthy people could still take the vow of obedience. Married followers would commit to raising godly families while obeying the leaders in their local Franciscan monastery. Wealthy disciples could and did commit to using their riches to help the poor. Today the Third Order of Franciscans still has many adherents.

In our last two posts we began the story of Clare of Assisi. We saw that she was impressed with Francis and that he was impressed by her piety. Francis of Assisi believed God gave him the opportunity to help Clare found a female monastery. The Poor Clares still take the light of the gospel along with love and care to this day.

Clare of Assisi – A Light for Peace and Justice – Part 3

Her name shall be “light”.    

In our last two posts we talked about Francis of Assisi and his vision for all men and women to follow in Christ’s footsteps caring for the poor. He had been praying for the right woman to come along and help with the work. God answered his prayer and brought the perfect woman to him. This woman was Clare, who left her disappointed family to join Francis in the work. God blessed their efforts.

Within a short period of time other women began to follow Clare including her mother and sister. Francis of Assisi built a little cloister for them near the Church of St. Damiano. In 1215 Clare founded the order of Poor Clares.^[1] They devoted themselves to prayer, penance and service. The Poor Clares also took vows of poverty and renounced property ownership. Clare modeled her female monastery as much as possible after the male monastery. This meant that the women lived a life of poverty, prayer, and service. 

Clare and Francis exemplified a mutual relationship of love and service. Men and women lived in separate monasteries in Europe in the thirteenth century, but that does not mean that Francis and Clare were out of contact with each other. Through visits and more often through writing to each other they shared their thoughts and aspirations. 

Clare was a true helper to Francis. They had a “soul” relationship. Though some historians have tried to hint at a physical relationship such as that between Abelard and Heloise, Francis and Clare maintained a pure and higher relationship of two minds with one purpose. Francis went about preaching and rebuilding churches. Clare remained cloistered for most of the rest of her life. Though separate physically the two were one spiritually. 

Being more restricted from traveling to physical worldly places, Clare nevertheless traveled to spiritual places. It has been said that while Francis taught Christians what to do in their lives, Clare taught people how to be. Clare led a very contemplative life. She looked at Jesus and imitated him as much as possible in his poverty and acts of service. 

Clare wrote her own regulations for women’s life in a cloister. Before Clare, only men had written the rules for religious life even for women. In her Rule, Clare maintained the same ideals that she and Francis had discussed for many years – an intimate relationship with Christ, voluntary poverty in all areas, humbleness, prayer, and care for the poor. Clare believed that the religious life should include freedom that combines flexibility with room to grow. Clare’s rule would be different from that of the most prominent convents of her day. In the Benedictine order there were rules against laughing or making someone laugh. Punishment was inflicted upon anyone who ate without permission. Flogging was a prominent form of discipline or humiliating oneself by kneeling before the rest of the community.^[2] Francis and Clare believed that following Christ should be a daily voluntary decision of the Christian life. The spiritual life is a daily, joyful service not a restrictive set of rules. Clare led by example so that the sisters would obey out of love and joy and not out of fear. 

With the encouragement of Francis, Clare took the title of Abbess, but she was uncomfortable with it. She believed that the leader should be the humble servant of the others. In this she was following Francis as well as Christ who said, “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:26-28). Clare modeled Christ as one who maintained humility while giving tenderness, consolation, and being “the last refuge for those who are troubled.” Clare and her sisters led by example always working among the poor and destitute bringing the light of the gospel along with food, clothing, and comfort. 

Clare seldom left her cloister but did maintain her friendship with Francis of Assisi and many others. In spite of being bedridden for the last twenty-eight years of her life (probably due to severe fasting) her influence was great. Clare and the group of women serving with her were responsible for extending the reforms started by St. Francis to the church and to society. 

In the summer of 1253 Clare lay dying in a small corner of San Damiano. Her biographer, Thomas of Celano tells us that she was “looking forward to death so that she could meet the poor Christ whom she loved so much.”^[3]  Clare had faithfully carried on the work of the Franciscans for twenty-seven years after her beloved friend Francis died. Her Rule had been approved just two days before he death. Pope Innocent IV had granted approval that confirmed all of the provisions that Clare felt were so important. Clare kissed her Rule next to the place where the pope had signed it. 

Even on her deathbed Clare encouraged her sisters. Just before she went to meet her Lord, she blessed the sisters. 

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May He show His face to you and have mercy on you.
May He turn His countenance to you and give peace to you, my sister and daughters and to all others who come and remain in your company to others both now and in the future, who have persevered until the end in every other monastery of the Poor Ladies. …. Always be lovers of your souls and those of all your sisters. And may you always be eager to observe what you have promised the Lord. 
May the Lord always be with you and may you always be with Him. Amen.^[4]

The Poor Clares spread beyond Assisi to other towns in Italy, England, France, Germany, and Bohemia. Today the Poor Clares number over 20,000 sisters in 70 countries. 

Clare died on August 11, 1253 of natural causes. In 1255 Clare was canonized as St. Clare by Pope Alexander IV. The pope’s papal decree sheds light on what the people thought of the life of St. Clare, the bringer of light. The following passage is a commemoration of Clare’s life.^[5]

Clare,

     brilliant by her bright merits, 

  by the brightness of her great glory in heaven, 

       and by the brilliance of her sublime miracles on earth, 

shines brilliantly. 

Clare, 

      her strict and lofty way of religious life glows here on earth, 

          while the magnitude of her eternal rewards 

        radiates from above 

             and her virtue begins to dawn upon all mortal beings 

        with magnificent signs. 

Clare: 

  here [below] she was endowed with the privilege

 of the most exalted poverty; 

      on high she is repaid by an inestimable source of treasure; 

Clare: 

she is shown full devotion and immense honor by all. 

Clare: 

her brilliant deeds distinguished her here [on earth]. 

Clare: 

while on high the fullness of the divine light 

shines on her. 

Clare:

her amazing works of wonder make her known 

                                                to the Christian people.

Conclusion 

Clare led such a genuine Christian life that all who knew her loved and respected her. Many witnesses were called to testify during her canonization process. They all maintained that Clare lived to serve Christ by serving others. Clare renounced great wealth in order to live in the world with the poor. During her entire life she maintained a zeal to spread the gospel of peace. Her testimony remained true to the end of her life. In a world where others were choosing a life based on what they could get out of it, Clare chose a life of giving. There are few women in history who have been so deserving of emulation. 

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^[1] In her lifetime Clare referred to them as the “Poor Ladies”.

^[2] Rules have a place. In the Benedictine convent it was felt that rules were the best way to enforce discipline. In our world where God created us all as individuals it is no wonder that each order of nuns was different. Some women thrive under more discipline. Clare’s sisters were very mature and willingly chose to follow the Franciscan order. Apparently the Poor Clares were able to live godly lives with more freedom.

^[3] Regis J. Armstrong, O.F.M. Cap. THE LADY Clare of Assisi:  Early Documents Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2019) p. 25.

^[4] Ibid. Armstrong, p. 66-67.

^[5] Ibid., Armstrong, p. 263. It is hard to imagine the humble Clare allowing anyone to say all of these things about her while she was alive!