Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Feast of St. Clare of Assisi ( Santa Chiara )

At the beginning of the 13th century, when luxury and sensuality held sway,St. Francis of Assisi made his appearance, giving to men the example of apoor and penitential life. But God wished also to give the vain andpleasure-loving women of that period an example of contempt of the world'svanities. For this mission he chose Clare, the daughter of a prominent andnoble family of Assisi, born January 20, 1194. Her father was Favarone deOffreduccio, count of Sassorosso; her mother, the servant of God Ortolana,who died in the odor of sanctity.

Before the child's birth it was revealed to the mother that her offspringwould be a brilliant light in the world. This light the mother detected inher daughter from her earliest years. Besides being favored with personalbeauty, Clare possessed a charming personality and rare qualities of mind.She was a favorite in the family, and hardly had she attained to youngwomanhood, when several suitors sought her in marriage.

But her virtues surpassed the gifts with which nature endorsed her. Sheinterested herself in the poor and frequently denied herself things so as tobe able to give more to the poor members of Christ. She loved prayer, andit was her sweetest delight to surrender her heart to sentiments of ardentdevotion before Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Beneath herbeautiful garments she wore a sharp penitential belt in order to honor thesufferings of Christ and to preserve herself a chaste virgin for His sake.

She was 18 years old when she heard St. Francis preach in the cathedral ofAssisi during the Lent of 1212. His words on contempt of the world and onpenance, and particularly the holy example he set, so earnestly affectedClare, that she conferred with him and soon recognized that God was callingher to lead a life similar to his in the seclusion of a convent. She didnot hesitate to carry out God's plans. Realizing that her family, intentonly on a brilliant future for her in the world, would oppose her vocationin every way, she had to leave home in secret.

On Palm Sunday she went to church, dressed in her richest garments, toattend divine services. That night, attended by an elderly relative, shewent to the little chapel of St. Mary of the Angels, where St. Francis andhis brethren came to meet her with lighted candles in their hands. Beforethe altar she removed her beautiful head-dress, then St. Francis cut off herhair and covered her head with a veil of common linen. In place of richgarments, she received a coarse penitential garb and was girded with a whitecord. This was the way in which the mother and founder of the Poor Clareswas invested on March 18, 1212. For the time being, St. Francis placed herin a convent of Benedictine sisters.

When Clare had successfully overcome the great opposition of her family, whohad intended to force her to return home, her sister Agnes joined her in thesacrifice. St. Francis arranged a little convent for them near the churchof St. Damian. There the number of consecrated virgins soon increased.They served God in great poverty, strict penance, and complete seclusionfrom the world according to a rule which St. Francis gave them as his SecondOrder. Clare was obliged in obedience to accept the office of abbess in1215 and to continue in it for 38 years until her death. But her love forhumility found compensation in the performance of the lowliest servicestoward her sisters. In spite of her great physical sufferings, she set hersisters a striking example of zeal in penance and prayer.

In the year 1240 an army of Saracens who were in the service of EmperorFrederick II drew near Assisi. They rushed upon the little convent of St.Damian that lay outside the city and had already scaled the walls of themonastery. In mortal fear the sisters had recourse to their mother, who wasill in bed.

The saint, carrying the pyx containing the Most Blessed Sacrament, hadherself carried to a convent window. There she pleaded fervently with theLord of heaven in the words of the Psalmist (Ps 73:19), "Deliver not up tobeasts the souls, that confess to thee, and shield thy servants whom thouhast redeemed with thy precious blood." A mysterious voice coming from theHost said, "I shall always watch over you." Immediately panic seized thebesiegers. A ray of brilliant light which emanated from the BlessedSacrament had dazzled them. They fell down from the walls and fled from theplace. The convent was saved and the town of Assisi was spared.
After suffering from serious illness for 30 years, Clare felt that her endwas drawing nigh. After she had received the last sacraments, she and oneof her sisters beheld the Queen of Virgins coming with a large escort tomeet her, the spouse of Jesus Christ. On August 11, 1253, she entered intothe joys of eternity and on the following day her body was buried. PopeAlexander IV canonized her in the year 1255. She was chosen as theuniversal patroness of television in 1958.


THE GREATEST GLORY

1. "Oh, how beautiful is the chaste generation with glory!" (Wisdom 4:1).This praise of heaven St. Clare and her company of sisters have merited forthemselves. Corporal beauty, personal charm, and costly clothes in whichthe children of the world take so much pleasure, this wise virgin consideredas naught. She understood the meaning of the Psalmist's words: "All theglory of the king's daughter is within" (Psalm 44:14). Untainted purity ofsoul, humility, voluntary poverty, penance, ardent love of God; these werethe virtues in which she sought her glory, and in them she foundimperishable beauty. Where are now the beautifully dressed women of Assisiof that period? Their memory has vanished. But Clare, like St. Francis,shines in heaven and on earth. Both have made their town famous throughoutthe world. -- Do you want true and lasting glory? It is to be found only invirtue. Where have you sought it in the past?

2. Consider that, like a wise virgin, St. Clare did not make a display ofher virtues before the world, but strove to hide them in the strictestseclusion. If the violet, which give forth such a sweet scent in itsseclusion, is planted in an open garden, its beauteous color fades and thesweetness of its scent diminishes. The same thing happens with our virtuesand good works. That is why St. Gregory, commenting on the Gospel parableof the ten virgins, says: "The good that we do must be carefully concealed,so that we do not look for favor and honor among men, otherwise that whichexternally appears as virtue would be inwardly deprived of its merit."Christians who are interested in their salvation, and especially Christianwomen and girls, even though they do not live in a convent, are included inthe words of the Apostle: "For you are dead, and your life is hid withChrist in God" (Col 3:3). -- Can this be said of you?

3. Consider what happiness St. Clare found even here on earth in her life ofseclusion. This did not consist in material comfort, nor even in continualspiritual consolation, but in sacrifices made for God, by which she becameever more intimately united with the Source of all happiness. She once saidto a young girl: "Our alliance is arrived at by self-denial and therenunciation of earthly things, by the crucifixion of the body and thesacrifice of the will, but the joys attached to it are eternal, the bond isindissoluble, it begins in the world, death puts the final seal to it." Onthe morning of the day on which she died she received the holy Viaticum; inthe afternoon, Pope Innocent IV paid her a visit and gave her generalabsolution. But Clare felt happier at having received the Lord of heaven inholy Communion than at having been honored by a visit from the pope. --May we, too, become indifferent to all earthly glory so that we may bepermitted to enjoy the eternal!

PRAYER OF THE CHURCH
We beseech Thee, O Lord, grant us Thy servants who devoutly celebrate thefeast day of the holy virgin Clare, to be made partakers of the joys ofheaven and co-heirs of Thy only-begotten Son. Who livest and reignestforever and ever. Amen.

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