Thirteenth-century virgin of Assisi who followed St. Francis and founded the Poor Clares.
Life
Saint Clare was born around 1194 into a noble family in Assisi, Italy. Moved by the preaching of Francis of Assisi, she left home on the night of Palm Sunday in 1212 to choose a life of poverty following Christ.
Beside the church of San Damiano she formed a community of sisters devoted to prayer, work and radical poverty, the beginning of today's Poor Clares. She held fast to the right to live in poverty, and the rule she wrote was approved just before her death.
She died on August 11, 1253, and was canonized in 1255. The Church remembers her on August 11.
Spirituality
Clare's spirituality is contemplation of the poor Christ. She believed that the more we let go of possessions, the more fully God can fill us. From within her enclosed monastery she embraced the Church and the world in prayer.
Reflection
Clare showed that having less can make us more free. What is one thing in your life that, if you let go of it, might actually bring you closer to God?