Last time we asked the question, who is the real St. Francis, but we should also ask the same question about St. Clare. I didn’t know a lot about St. Clare before coming on this trip.
Clare was drawn to the mission of St. Francis, but St. Francis had only men in his community, so he convinced St. Clare to start her own order, at the age of 18. Her sister, age 15, also desired to join the community, but her family didn’t want either of them to join such a poor community. When they tried to bring her sister home, she became like a stone so that they weren’t able to physically move her.
The order moved to San Damiano and this is also the place where St. Clare died. One amazing story about St. Clare, is that when the city of Assisi was in danger of being sacked, St. Clare prayed with the blessed sacrament for protection of her sisters and the city. That is why you will often see many statues of St. Clare holding a monstrance.
Hearing this powerful story of St. Clare increases my appreciation for Eucharistic adoration and the power of prayer.
The rule of St. Clare was the first rule to include manual labor and show the dignity of work. We were able to pray in the place where she was buried and also pray in the place where she died at San Damiano.
St. Clare also asked the Holy Father to include in their rule, total trust in the goodness from other people, the Pope was reluctant at the time, but approved the rule of the privilege of poverty.
I’m inspired by the courage of St. Clare and I hope that we all have the courage in our lives to do great things for God.