Introduction:
We gather on August 11th, the Feast of St. Clare. Her feast is determined, like many of our saints feasts, by the date of their death – in her case it was August 11th. She was born on either January 20th or July 16th, according to the Franciscan Celsus O’Brien OFM. While there is less certainty around her birthday, there is ample evidence to determine her exact date of death – August 11th.
Her name then was Chiara di Favorone. It doesn’t exactly have the ring of sanctity around it, yet like all Saints, Clare was born as human, as humble, as fragile as any one of us. Her name, mind you, had that musical lilt to it, she could have been an Italian Opera singer or an actress, yet she would choose the way of Francis. She could have married nobility and ensure a life of wealth, prestige and ease in thirteenth century Italy, yet she turned her back on everything.
We gather in St. Clare’s Church, Graiguecullen once again in celebration of St. Clare and indeed in celebration of the Poor Clare’s presence among us here in Carlow for the past 132 years. The Rule of their Order was only confirmed by Papal Bull, the day before St. Clare’s death. The Poor Clare’s, by their life and example witness to us the face of God.
We seek His face. We ring their bell. We knock on their door. We write out our intentions. Let’s for a moment recollect ourselves as we call to mind our woundedness and brokenness in His presence as we pray…
Homily:
During the summer there are a series of radio programme’s that slip onto our schedules, one of them is called ‘Second Captains’, it usually airs after lunch on Saturdays carrying a tagline: “they could have been someone, done anything”. The guests are rated according to their prowess at being the best non-sportsperson sportsperson! Perhaps you have heard the programme.
Chiara di Favorone could have been anyone, done anything, yet she chose a life, modelled by Francis. She came from real nobility yet she had this desire for things beyond this world. The words of the man in the rough, tattered habit, who wore a knotted rope for a belt, changed Chiara’s way of thinking and looking at everything, forever altering her direction in life.
Chiara took the name Clare, following the pursuit of a religious life, despite the protestations of her family, before one by one they began to join her or at least tolerate her way of life, Clare lived a life of more radical poverty than any other religious woman of her time. Her Rule would remind the Poor Clare’s that they lived entirely by alms they received from the generosity of the people round about.
Things we mightn’t know about Clare, things that might arise if she were a guest on such a programme as ‘Second Captains’:
She never left Assisi. She never left the monastery of San Damiano after she first entered it in 1212 at the age of 18, dying in 1253 at the age of 59. And remember she entered the convent without any novitiate, probationary or propaedeutic period. It would be unheard of today. Indeed it was in the same San Damiano that the cause for her canonisation would be opened. She was declared a saint two years after her death, the canonisation process, normally cautious in length was very swift.
She is the patron of Television as declared by Pope Pius XII on February 14th, St. Valentine’s Day, 1958. So when the programme is not to your liking, you can’t find what you want to watch, or you lose the remote control, turn to St. Clare!
She embraced poverty. She was known as the ‘Poor Lady of Assisi’, and through wholeheartedly embracing poverty, she achieved a holiness matched by few since. In a letter to her younger sister Agnes, who followed her into the convent, she encouraged her to gaze upon the poverty of Jesus, placed in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes. Humility follows poverty, humility is in the words of St. Clare “blessed poverty”[1].
She wore herself out for God. Her last years were beset by sickness and infirmity, although she struggled on with the help of her sisters. She was visited upon by Pope Innocent IV in her last days, despite being cloistered, she was by then well known for her holiness.
She is usually depicted as carrying a monstrance, recalling the story of how she lifted the siege of the city of Assisi by a hostile army by her prayer and holiness of life. Emperor Frederick II of Sweden was at war with the Pope and the cruel soldiers decided to break into the cloistered convent of San Damiano. Despite being then bedridden, she got up, calmly went to the chapel, prostrating herself in front of the Eucharist, she implored God to protect the Sisters. And the voice was heard “I will always protect you!”. Filled with confidence and trust she took the ciborium and faced the invaders, throwing them into total confusion. They instantly fled the convent.
A week ago I returned from the Jubilee of Youth in Rome, as a million of us held Vigil with Pope Leo in the 237 acre site of Tor Vergata, I was very struck at the amount of religious in the field – Dominicans, Carmelites, Franciscans, all fully habited – engaging with the young people, interacting with the young at every stage. Cloistered life has a future in the witness it offers. Cloistered life speaks to young people, at least to the million in the field with me. The Poor Clare’s will continue to be here long after any of us.
Why? Because all of us yearn for a sense of holiness in our lives. We look for something beyond what this world has to offer. And that’s why the story of Chiara di Favorone, the story of St. Clare makes such sense! Like with ‘Second Captains’ she could have been anyone, done anything, yet she chose a life, a life of poverty, chastity and humility modelled by Francis.
[1] Letter to Blessed Agnes of Prague on ‘Considering the poverty, humility and charity of Jesus’