The traditional dynamic between the masculine and feminine within medieval European Christianity relied heavily on the submission of women’s congregations and dependence on their male counterparts. The story of St. Clare of Assisi, or Chiara, as she was born, seemingly disrupts this tradition while simultaneously establishing her as an authority figure within the hierarchy of the Catholic institution. It is precisely her disobedience to traditional customs and figures within the Vatican that renders her a powerful saint in the Church’s canon. I will pull evidence from the letters of St. Clare to Agnes of Prague as well as garner context from Jo A. McNamara’s Sisters in Arms: Catholic Nuns through Two Millennia to explore St. Clare’s femininity and defiance of the Vatican.
Chiara Offreduccio was born to a wealthy family in Assisi, Italy during the tumultuous period of in-fighting that resulted in the Battle of Collestrada in 1202. Her mother, Ortulana, a pious woman, often visited their nearby church and prayed for the safe delivery of her child. On one such occasion, an angelic voice told her she would “bring forth a clear light that will illumine the world” (Filippa 1253, 161). Subsequently, Orulana named her according to this vision—Chiara or Clare, meaning bright light. Clare’s bright light shone through her outward beauty as well as her defiance to insensitive customs. She illuminated the social and political hypocrisy of the wealthy religiosity of Assisi, whose religious elite proclaimed Gospel tenants, but lived extremely opulent and self-serving lives. On one Palm Sunday, for instance, she refused to grovel before her bishop, instead forcing him to meet her (Armstrong 2006). Such opposition to social convention, particularly the submissive behaviors expected of Catholic women, would guide her through her life’s mission, including recalcitrance from the Vatican.
Throughout her young adulthood, Clare made it painfully clear that she would only submit to Jesus, her great love and unfailing spouse as described in her letters to Agnes of Prague. When her uncle made arrangements for her to marry, she fled to St. Francis of Assisi, who had first sparked her piety, and he found her sanctuary in San Damiano where she lived until her death in 1253 (Armstrong 2006). It is difficult to say how much influence the little brothers of St Francis had on St Clare and her speedily growing convent, though we know based on his letters to the Poor Ladies, St. Clare’s followers, that he promised to provide for their needs. However, it was this care and shelter that the Poor Ladies balked at. In 1227, Cardinal Hugolino of Tuscany became Pope Gregory IX and within months of his election to the papacy, he issued a series of papers attempting to govern the nuns enclosed in extreme poverty. The intensity of the convent shocked the Vatican and Pope Gregory IX created a uniform papal legislation to stop the Poor Ladies from their way of life; it resulted in a series of papal decrees between 1234 and 1238, the last of which, the Angelis gaudium, described Clare’s proposed way of life as a good accompaniment to St. Francis’s order, but not able to stand on its own (Gregory 1238)
This consistent condemnation only furthered St. Clare’s determination to create her own diligent rules for the Poor Ladies. The Form of Life, laid out by Clare for her convents, was the first set of monastic guidelines written by a woman, and demanded a level of sacrifice that vastly outstripped the Benedictine and Augustinian ways of life (Armstrong 2006). Perhaps she was emboldened by monastic freedom; as J.K. McNamara writes, “virginity wiped out gender differences and turned women into men by giving them independence and the authority to pursue a lofty spiritual calling” (McNamara 1996, 3). Her radical view of poverty came from her intense pursuit of the person of Jesus, attempting to imitate His ways of sacrifice, selflessness, and love. This authenticity, which cast out all attachments to wealth and vanity, attracted women from across Europe. Agnes of Prague, daughter of King Premsyl Ottokar I of Bohemia, wished to join the Poor Ladies, but was dissuaded by Pope Gregory IX. However, Clare and Agnes created a life long friendship that resulted in dozens of letters rich in spiritual guidance and insights into Clare’s life.
The first letter and fourth letter from St. Clare to Agnes of Prague, a saint in her own right, depicted her development of Christological prayer in a way that had been previously left in the embryonic stage by male theologians, as first suggested by Armstrong in his introduction to The Lady: Clare of Assisi (2006). The development of prayer into a form of appreciation of self completely opposes the idea that piety should entail shrinking away from one’s beauty. Particularly, the gazing upon oneself in power and beauty remarks on the call of womanhood within the Church:
“Gaze upon that mirror each day,
O Queen and Spouse of Jesus Christ,
and continually study your face in it,
that you may adorn yourself completely,
within and without,
covered and arrayed in needlework”
(Clare of Assisi 1253, 55).
The commonly used mirror literature popular among medieval Christians is expanded here into a type of self-reflection and self-admiration. This, therefore, elevates thoughts of self with appreciation for God and His creations. St. Clare’s letters to Agnes of Prague elucidate the difference between vanity and self admiration. St Clare's reflections on the action of prayer, self-respect, and clothing and unclothing oneself, reveal her position on self-love. Furthermore, it develops the mirror analogy into one of a feminine gazing at form and beauty rather than longing for virtue.
The insertion of femininity is particularly present in her phrasing “most beloved Sister, or should I say, Lady worthy of great respect, because You are the spouse and the mother and the sister of my Lord Jesus Christ” (Clare of Assisi 1234, 44). Clare meets Agnes of Prague with great reverence, treating her with Marian devotion. “The spouse” refers to Agnes’ spousal relationship to Jesus in her orders and “the sister” means that St. Clare is her sister in Christ, but the second phrase, “the mother”, denotes her usage of Marian theology. It may be a direct result of Pope Gregory IX’s letters which sought to dissuade Agnes of Prague from joining this order—St. Clare speaks to her as if she and Agnes had already been joined together. In the later part of her letter, she goes on to say, “You are virtually worthy to be called a sister, spouse and mother of the Son of the Most High Father and of the glorious Virgin” (Clare of Assisi 1234, 46). It is noteworthy perhaps for its assurance that Agnes, by the Holy Spirit, is “mother” of God which elevates her to a position of sacred authority like the Virgin Mary. Furthermore, she does not seek permission from the Vatican to achieve such veneration, as St. Clare circumvents the papacy in this letter. By establishing Agnes as a religious “sister, spouse, and mother” without Pope Gregory’s dispensation, she undermines the inherently male hierarchical structure of the Vatican and places a greater weight on her own feminine authority as spouse and mother to God as well as knowledge of the Divine.
This example of joined femininity perfectly embodies the nature of the sisterhood between ladies in convents written about in Jo A. McNamara’s book. “No human institution is older than this sisterhood. Its impact has been felt throughout the world but, against all reasonable evidence, monastic historians traditionally refused to see anything but their cloister walls and enveloping veils” (McNamara 1996, 3). Her assertion that Christian historians would rather write out women of disobedience fits in with the narrative the Vatican produced of St. Clare. By the sixteenth century, the public’s understanding was that the papacy had founded the Poor Ladies and that Clare was a devout, compliant follower of St. Francis (Mooney 2016). However, the Poor Ladies, later renamed “the Poor Clares”, unflinchingly continued their mission after the work of their female founder.
This discussion of the holy disobedience of women is forever embedded within the walls of the San Damiano parish. As shown in the early modern fresco depiction of St. Clare, she is regarded as a figure like the Virgin Mary. She stands like a giant above many nuns who kneel at her feet in silent prayer. Her hands extend outward, facing them, so that her robes fall around the dozens at her feet. St. Clare’s stance mimics that of the Virgin Mary, whose protection is often portrayed in art as a flowing mantle, enshrouding all Christians. This depiction as the Queen of Heaven and mother of God shrouds Clare with a sacred veneration and elevates her mission and implementation to that of Divine choosing. This role as another Mary further separates her cause from that of St Francis. The fresco on the church wall of her self-originated order correctly depicts a woman who was the cornerstone of a separate religious order with internal rules and guidelines. In St. Clare, we witness the boldness and presence of a woman undeterred by derision, even from that of Pope Gregory IX, from her mission: the authentic Gospel lived through poverty and charity.
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Armstrong, Regis J. 2006. “Introduction.” In The Lady: Clare of Assisi: Early Documents, edited and translated by Regis J. Armstrong, 13-35. New York: New City Press.
Clare of Assisi, Saint. 2006. “Letters to Agnes of Prague.” In The Lady: Clare of Assisi: Early Documents, edited and translated by Regis J. Armstrong, 43-58. New York: New City Press.
Filippa of San Damiano, Sister. 2006. “Acts of the Process of Canonization.” In The Lady: Clare of Assisi: Early Documents, edited and translated by Regis J. Armstrong, 139-196. New York: New City Press.
Gregory IX, Pope. 2006. “Angelis Gaudium.” In The Lady: Clare of Assisi: Early Documents, edited and translated by Regis J. Armstrong, 360-362. New York: New City Press.
Secondary Sources
Kyla Hill has a MA in Medieval Literature and Languages from the Centre of Medieval Studies at the University of York in England. Her dissertation focused on Marie de France’s lais as a comparative insight to the Anglo-Norman legal system. Kyla is primarily interested in women’s rights within 12/13th century English law and female agency within the Church.
Email: kyla.chris.hill@gmail.com.
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