11/08/2021
Saint of The Day - 11 August
Feast St. Clare of Assisi.
She is the patron saint of embroiderers, needle workers, eyes, against eye disease, for good weather, gilders, gold workers, goldsmiths, laundry workers, telegraphs, telephones, television, television writers.
Clare was born in Assisi on July 16, 1194, as Chiara Offreduccio, the beautiful eldest daughter of Favorino Sciffi, Count of Sasso-Rosso and his wife Ortolana.
Traditional accounts say that Clare's father was a wealthy representative of an ancient Roman family and her mother was a very devout woman belonging to the noble family of Fiumi. As a child, Clare was devoted to prayer.
Clare was taught to read and write as well as spin yarn and do needlework. She had little interest in her luxurious surroundings (she lived in a palace). Influenced by her mother's religious devotion, Clare dedicated her life to God at an early age.
She also showed early on that her calling would involve helping the poor, as she set aside food from her family table to give to the needy on the streets.
Having refused to marry at 15, Clare was moved by the dynamic preaching of Francis. He became her lifelong friend and spiritual guide.
Inspired by his words, Clare asked Francis to help her in dedicating her life to God, and he vowed to do so. The following year (1211), Clare's parents chose a wealthy young man for Clare to marry, but she pointedly refused.
At 18, Clare escaped from her fatherβs home one night, was met on the road by friars carrying torches. In the poor little chapel called the Portiuncula she received a rough woolen habit, exchanged her jeweled belt for a common rope with knots in it, and sacrificed her long tresses to Francisβ scissors.
Francis placed her in a Benedictine convent, which her father and uncles immediately stormed in rage. Clare clung to the altar of the church, threw aside her veil to show her cropped hair, and remained adamant.
Sixteen days later her sister Agnes joined her. They moved to the Church of San Damiano, recently rebuilt by Francis. It wasn't long before other women joined them, and San Damiano's residents, known for their ascetic lifestyle, became known as the "Poor Ladies."
They lived a simple life of great poverty, austerity, and complete seclusion from the world, according to a Rule which Francis gave them as a Second Order.
The Poor Ladies went barefoot, slept on the ground, ate no meat, and observed almost complete silence. Later Clare, like Francis, persuaded her sisters to moderate this rigor: βOur bodies are not made of brass.β
Clare had the joy not only of seeing her younger sister, Agnes ( St. Agnes of Assisi) join the Order but also her youngest sister Beatrix (Blessed), her mother Ortolana (Blessed) and her faithful Aunt Bianca.
At age 21, Francis obliged Clare under obedience to accept the office of abbess, one she exercised until her death.
She had a special devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to increase her love for Christ crucified, she learned by heart the Office of the Passion composed by St. Francis.
Clare is credited with saving Assisi on two occasions.
In 1224, the army of Frederick II came to plunder Assisi. Although very sick, Clare had herself carried to the wall and right there, where the enemies could see it, she had the Blessed Sacrament placed.
Then on her knees, she begged God to save the Sisters. βDoes it please you, O God, to deliver into the hands of these beasts the defenseless children I have nourished with your love? I beseech you, dear Lord, protect these whom I am now unable to protect.β
A voice seemed to answer: "I will keep them always in My care." To her sisters she said, βDonβt be afraid. Trust in Jesus.β Suddenly a mysterious terror seized the enemies, who fled without harming anybody.
In the second instance, Assisi was again under attack. Clare and her nuns prayed for the safety of their town, and a storm swept in and scattered the attackers.
Not the least important part of Clareβs work was the help and encouragement she gave to her spiritual father, Francis. It was to her that he turned when in doubt and it was she who urged him to continue his mission in preaching when he thought his vocation lay in becoming a hermit.
After receiving the Stigmata, blind, ill and dying, Francis came for the last time to San Damiano. Clare built a little reed hut for him outside the cloister and tended him. It was there that he composed his magnificent βCanticle of the Creaturesβ, in the spring of 1225.
Francis always remained her great friend and inspiration. Clare was always obedient to his will and to the great ideal of gospel life which he was making real. Clare cared for Francis toward the end of his life and was with him when he died in 1226.
In 1228, when Gregory IX offered Clare a dispensation from the vow of strict poverty, she replied: "I need to be absolved from my sins, but not from the obligation of following Christ."
Clare served the sick and washed the feet of the begging nuns. She came from prayer, it was said, with her face so shining it dazzled those about her.
Clare became sick and suffered great pains for many years, but she expressed that no pain could trouble her.
So great was her joy in serving the Lord that she once exclaimed: "They say that we are too poor, but can a heart which possesses the infinite God be truly called poor?"
She suffered serious illness for the last 27 years of her life. Her influence was such that popes, cardinals, and bishops often came to consult herβClare herself never left the walls of San Damiano.
Clare died on August 11, 1253 at the age of 59. Her last words as reported to have been, "Blessed be You, O God, for having created me."
There are traditions of bringing offerings of eggs to the Poor Clares for their intercessions for good weather, particularly for weddings.
Her patronage of eyes and against their problems may have developed from her name which has overtones from clearness, brightness, brilliance - like healthy eyes.
Clare was designated as the patron saint of television in 1958 by Pope Pius XII, because when St. Clare was very ill, she could not attend mass and was reportedly able to see and hear it on the wall in her room.
"We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become. If we love things, we become a thing. If we love nothing, we become nothing. Imitation is not a literal mimicking of Christ, rather it means becoming the image of the beloved, an image disclosed through transformation. This means we are to become vessels of God's compassionate love for others."
"Love God, serve God: everything is in that."
"Love Him totally, who gave Himself totally for your love."
"Love that cannot suffer is not worthy of that name."
"For, I am sure that you know that the kingdom of heaven is promised and given by the Lord only to the poor, because as long as something temporal is the object of love, the fruit of charity is lost."
βCling to His most sweet Mother, who carried a Son whom the heavens could not contain; and yet she carried Him in the little enclosure of her holy womb and held Him on her virginal lap.β
βThey say that we are too poor but can a heart which possesses the infinite God be truly called poor? We should remember this miracle of the Blessed Sacrament when in Church. Then we will pray with great Faith to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist: βSave me, O Lord, from every evil"
"Our body is not made of iron. Our strength is not that of stone. Live and hope in the Lord, and let your service be according to reason."
"Our labor here is brief, but the reward is eternal. Do not be disturbed by the clamor of the world, which passes like a shadow. Do not let false delights of a deceptive world deceive you."
"Place your mind before the mirror of eternity! Place your soul in the brilliance of glory! And transform your entire being into the image of the Godhead Itself through contemplation."
βGo forth in peace, for you have followed the good road. Go forth without fear, for he who created you has made you holy, has always protected you, and loves you as a mother. Blessed be you, my God, for having created me.β
