Franciscan Monastery of St. Clare of Cincinnati, Ohio

09/10/2026

Sr. Doris celebrated her 65th Anniversary as a Religious Sister on Tuesday - The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary! Fr. William Farris, OFM was our presider for Mass. We thank Sr. Doris for her "Yes" to religious life!

08/31/2026

08/06/2026

DAY 5 - NOVENA TO ST. CLARE

For Those Afraid Because of Economic Insecurity.
Today we pray for all who are living with fear because of economic insecurity: families unable to pay rent, workers worried about losing their jobs, parents choosing between food and medicine, elders afraid of being forgotten, and refugees who have fled danger only to face uncertainty about shelter, work, safety, and belonging.

Saint Clare knew what it meant to place her security in God rather than in wealth, status, or family protection. Born into privilege in Assisi, she chose the Gospel path of poverty, leaving behind the security expected of a noblewoman. At San Damiano, she and her sisters lived simply, depending on daily providence, prayer, work, and the generosity of others. Her poverty was not romantic hardship; it was a bold trust that God’s love was more dependable than possessions.

Clare’s own city of Assisi also knew instability. In her youth, conflict and social division touched the lives of families, nobles, workers, and the poor. Clare spent time in exile in Perugia, and the insecurity of those years helped shape her compassion. She learned that fear narrows the heart, but grace widens it. Instead of clinging to privilege, she became a sister to those who had little, a mother to her community, and a light for people seeking courage in uncertain times.

Today, millions of refugees and displaced people carry a similar fear in their bodies: the fear of not knowing where they will sleep, whether they will be welcomed, how they will feed their children, whether they can work, and whether tomorrow will be safer than today. Their displacement may begin as a search for safety, but too often it becomes a long season of uncertainty. Saint Clare teaches us to see them not as strangers or statistics, but as brothers and sisters whose dignity remains bright even when their circumstances are fragile.

Prayer: Saint Clare, faithful friend of Christ and daughter of Assisi, you chose holy poverty not because suffering is good, but because God is trustworthy. Pray for all who are afraid today because money is short, work is uncertain, housing is unstable, or the future feels unsafe. Pray for refugees, migrants, and displaced families who carry the weight of loss and the fear of beginning again. Ask the Lord to provide what is needed: daily bread, safe shelter, honest work, generous neighbors, wise leaders, and communities that protect human dignity.

Lord Jesus, calm the hearts of those who are afraid. Give them courage for today, help for tomorrow, and companions for the road. Make us instruments of your providence, so that our prayer becomes mercy, our concern becomes action, and our abundance becomes shared hope. Amen.

Practice for Today: Offer one concrete act of solidarity: donate food or funds, check on someone under financial strain, support a refugee-serving organization, or pray by name for a family facing economic fear.

by Sr. Judith Ann Crosby, OSC, a member of the Poor Clares of Westwood, MA.

Poor Clare Nuns of Boston, MA

08/05/2026

DAY 4 - NOVENA TO ST. CLARE

For the Sick, Medical Professionals and Caretakers, and Expectant Mothers.
This devotion is often learned at home. To grow up with a mother who faced her own illness yet never ceased trying to be a “presence” for her children is to witness a living icon of Clare’s spirit. It is the realization that strength is not the absence of weakness, but the persistence of love through it.

Prayers of Intercession

Through the intercession of St. Clare, we lift up these intentions:

For the Sick: We pray for those in need of healing. May they feel the same tenderness Clare showed her sisters, finding peace in the “enclosure” of God’s mercy.

For Medical Professionals and Caretakers: We ask for guidance for doctors and nurses. Grant them Clare’s clarity of mind and her compassionate heart as they navigate the complexities of modern medicine.

For Expectant Mothers: We pray for pregnant women, that they may experience safe deliveries and bring forth healthy, happy babies. May they find strength in the “most sweet Mother” who first held the Savior in her lap.

Tip:

A Living Prayer: Today, consider offering a small act of “Clean tenderness”—a card, a phone call, or a moment of silent prayer—for someone you know who is currently acting as a caregiver.

Saint Clare, Lady of Light, pray for us.

Today we pray for healing for those who are sick and for guidance for their doctors, medical professionals, and caretakers.

On the Feast of Saint Clare, we celebrate a woman whose life was a “mirror” of the Gospel. While many remember her for the “privilege of poverty,” we also look to her as a beacon of maternal tenderness. Within the enclosure of San Damiano, Clare did not just lead; she mothered. When her sisters fell ill, she was known to tend to them with a gentleness that surpassed even a natural mother’s love, seeing in their suffering the very face of the “Poor Crucified” she so dearly loved.

The Little Enclosure of the Womb

Clare’s spirituality was deeply rooted in her love for the Blessed Virgin Mary. She saw in Mary the ultimate model of how to “contain” the Uncontainable. As Clare famously wrote:

“Cling 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.”

The image of the “enclosure” serves as a powerful metaphor for our own lives. Just as Mary held the Infinite in her small, holy womb, we are called to hold the presence of Christ in the small, often quiet spaces of service—at the bedside of a sick friend, in the nursery of a newborn, or in the silent strength of a mother who shows up despite her own pain.

A Legacy of Caretaking

The feast resonates deeply with those who know the weight and then grace of the “healing ministry.” In the quiet of community life, tending to sisters who are sick is a Sacred labor. It is an echo of Clare’s own hands tucking in the blankets of her sisters.

by Sister Florence Vales, OSC, a member of the Poor Clares of Chesterfield, NJ.

Joyfully Embracing the Gospel Way of Life

08/04/2026

Our Sr. Dianne celebrates her 80th Birthday today! Please join us in wishing her a Happy Birthday!

08/04/2026

DAY 3 - NOVENA TO ST. CLARE

Healing Broken Relationships and Family Struggles.
Intention: Today we pray for all who suffer because of broken relationships, painful divisions, family conflict, estrangement, divorce, betrayal, resentment, or wounds that have lasted for years. We ask Saint Clare to intercede for families who long for peace, but do not yet know how to begin again.

Saint Clare knew the cost of following God when family expectations and personal vocation came into conflict. As a young woman of noble birth in Assisi, she was expected to marry well and preserve her family’s honor. Yet, moved by the preaching and example of Saint Francis, she chose a life of radical poverty, prayer, and service. When she left home to dedicate herself to Christ, her family reacted with anger and tried to bring her back by force. Clare did not return hatred for hatred. She clung to God with courage, but she also remained a woman of peace, prayer, and steadfast love.

Her story reminds us that holiness does not always remove tension from family life. Sometimes doing what is right can be misunderstood. Sometimes love requires patience, boundaries, forgiveness, and trust in God’s timing. Clare’s witness teaches us that peace is not weakness. It is strength rooted in Christ. She did not allow bitterness to define her. Instead, she became a light for others, and even members of her own family, including her sister Agnes and later her mother Ortolana, followed her path of faith.

Today, many people carry similar wounds in quieter ways. A parent and adult child may no longer speak because of years of disappointment. Siblings may be divided by inheritance, jealousy, addiction, or old misunderstandings. A marriage may be strained by silence, exhaustion, financial pressure, or betrayal. Grandparents may ache for grandchildren they rarely see. Some families struggle with mental illness, grief, caregiving burdens, or the pain of words spoken in anger that cannot easily be forgotten.

Through Saint Clare’s intercession, we ask for the grace to begin with humility. Where reconciliation is possible, may God open a path. Where trust must be rebuilt slowly, may God give patience. Where boundaries are necessary for safety and healing, may God give wisdom without hatred. Where someone has been abandoned, rejected, or misunderstood, may God surround that person with faithful love and restore hope.

Prayer: Saint Clare, woman of courage, peace, and faithful love, pray for all who are suffering in their families and relationships. You knew what it meant to be misunderstood by those closest to you, yet you remained rooted in Christ. Help us surrender our anger, fear, pride, and grief to the Lord. Teach us to seek reconciliation without forcing it, to forgive without pretending wounds do not matter, and to love without losing the truth. Ask Jesus to heal what is broken, soften hardened hearts, protect the vulnerable, and bring peace where there has been conflict. May our homes become places of patience, mercy, honest conversation, and renewed hope. Amen.

Saint Clare of Assisi, pray for us.

by Sister Judith Ann Crosby, OSC, a member of the Poor Clares in Westwood, MA.

Poor Clare Nuns of Boston, MA

08/03/2026

DAY 2 - NOVENA TO ST. CLARE
REFLECTION BY SR. LUISA BAYATE, OSC

For the Poor, Forgotten, Desperate, and Lonely around the World and in our Neighborhoods.
Who are the poor? The rich who are compassionate and caring for the poor, or the poor individuals who are arrogant and ungrateful.

When we hear and think of the poor, do we have a healthy balance of conception of an image of a poor person? We get confused in distinguishing the right "poor" to pray for. God sees our limitations to discern that in the Gospel of Matthew; Jesus gifted us a legacy and provisions of blessings that express the attitudes of being a member of God's Kingdom. As we pray for the poor, we pray the soul of every people of God because being poor is not only limited to a geography of rural areas, disadvantages of limited education, limited access to social services, less access for greener opportunities of employment, inadequate housing and standard lifestyle but also to those places who are inflicted with poverty by the insecurity and displacement due to the ongoing wars in Sudan, Ukraine, Iran, Gaza and all countries where violence is epidemic. The poverty of people has been and still is aggravated by disrupted infrastructure due to calamities and devastation all over the world, with the recent floods and deadly earthquakes in the Philippines, Venezuela, Japan, California, and other countries. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness's sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven". Blessed are we who pray for every soul, for we are the heart and face of God. We embody God's image in the predicament of our daily life.

In the Fourth Letter of St. Clare to Agnes of Prague, Clare urges Agnes to "look upon that mirror each day and adorn herself within and without with beautiful robes and cover herself with the flowers and garments of all the virtues" in humility and love, mirroring Christ's own life, allowing our soul to be transformed. St. Clare called us to action in her First Letter to Agnes to be strengthened in the holy service of the Poor Crucified in the image of our "hero" for today: the poor, forgotten, desperate, and lonely around the world and in our neighborhoods. May our humble prayers reach out to them in a special way, bringing peace and comfort in Jesus' name. St. Clare of Assisi, pray for us. Amen.

by Sister Luisa Bayate, OSC, a member of the Poor Clares in Cincinnati, OH.

We are a community of Poor Clare nuns living a life of contemplation and prayer as Roman Catholic Religious Nuns who follow St. Francis and St. Clare in living a life following the Gospel.

08/03/2026

DAY 1 - NOVENA TO ST CLARE
REFLECTION BY SR. ANNA MARIE COVELY, OSC

A Prayer for Peace.
We live in a time of a lot of violence and constant wars. Saint Clare also lived in a time of violence: disputes between the Upper-Class Nobility and the Merchant Class, between Popes and Emperors, as well as the Crusades.

When she was a young girl, her family had to flee to Perugia because of the uprising of the merchant class in her hometown of Assisi. Interestingly, one of the fighters was a young man of the Merchant Class named Francis Bernadone.

Later, after Clare returned to Assisi, she heard Francis speaking at San Rufino. She realized how much their hearts and call were the same. They crossed the line between nobility and merchant class as they responded to the one call of Christ to a life of poverty and Gospel living.

At San Damiano, the monastery was attacked by Mercenaries. Clare resorted to prayer and went to meet them armed only with the Blessed Sacrament.

St. Clare is an example to us of openness to others, of addressing violence with love and prayer rather than with more violence. In her community, women came from all levels of society to form one sisterhood, seeking to live together in one mind and heart in their profession of holy poverty. In her Way of Life, she tells us to preserve the unity of mutual love. When difficulties arise between the Sisters (difficulties do arise whether in a contemplative community, a family setting, or on the larger Church or world stage), we are to seek forgiveness. True peace and mutual love can only grow in an atmosphere of reconciliation and forgiveness.

In our day, Pope Leo calls for an “unarmed and disarming” peace. He asks us to come to the table of dialogue and mediation. While praying for world leaders to make choices for peace, how peaceful are the choices we make in our everyday lives? Do we seek to come to a table of dialogue in the disputes and hurts of daily life? Do we have a heart open to forgiveness?

by Sister Anna Marie Coverly, OSC, a member of the Poor Clares in Cincinnati, OH.

We are a community of Poor Clare nuns living a life of contemplation and prayer as Roman Catholic Religious Nuns who follow St. Francis and St. Clare in living a life following the Gospel.

08/02/2026

We invite you to join us in praying the Novena to St. Clare. Here is a link to our webpage that has all 9 days of the Novena.

07/14/2026

Pope Leo XIV, after the General Audience in St. Peter's Square on June 24, 2026, greeted the members of the International Commission for the Revision of the General Constitutions of the Order of St. Clare and posed for a picture with the Commission. Our Sister Vickie is one of 12 Poor Clare Sisters and 4 Friars from around the world who sit on the Commission.

The following day, Massimo Fusarelli, OFM, Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, met with the Commission at the Monasterio at Via Vitellia to discuss the progress made on the draft text and the anticipated submission of the document to the Dicastery for review later this year.

We thank our Sr. Vickie, and all the members of the Commission, for their service to the Order.