800th Anniversary of the Founding of the Poor Clares

Looking at the National Catholic Reporter website, I came across an essay by Jon M. Sweeney.  He is an author who has written about saints, especially St. Francis of Assisi.  He also wrote prayer books dedicated to both St. Francis and St. Clare.

In his essay, Jon Sweeney stated that last Sunday, March 18th, in 1212, would have been the Palm Sunday in Assisi, when Clare would leave her family, and their wealth and prestige; and go join Francis and his ragged little band of followers.  That night she would dedicate herself to living the Gospel of Jesus Christ, guided by Francis and the Holy Spirit.  Thus was born another branch of the Franciscan family, the Poor Clares.  It is unique in that it is a monastic, contemplative movement, but it is faithful to the spirit of St. Francis and St. Clare.

Discovering An Anniversary

With everything that has been happening in my life this past year, it appears that I have missed a very important anniversary in the Franciscan World. April 16th, 2011 marked the beginning of a year long celebration of the 800th Anniversary of the founding of Order of Saint Clare, commonly known as the Poor Clares. On Palm Sunday, 1212, Clare of Assisi, daughter of a noble family, decided to leave all of her riches and privileges, and join Francis of Assisi in living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She would be soon joined by her sister Agnes and other women; Francis gave them the chapel San Damiano as their monastery.

Saint Clare and her community became the contemplative branch of the Franciscan family, and preserved the ideal of Franciscan poverty. The community continues to this day.

My May column for fraternity newsletter SHALOM

“The Secular Franciscan Order holds a special place in this Family circle. It is an organic union of all Catholic fraternities scattered throughout the world and open to every group of the faithful. In these fraternities the brothers and sisters, led by the Spirit, strive for perfect charity in their own secular state. By their profession they pledge themselves to live the gospel in the manner of Saint Francis by means of this rule approved by the Church.” (Art. 2, SFO Rule of 1978)
In the last weekend of April, I attended the Chapter of Elections for St. Elizabeth of Hungary Regional Fraternity; the Region our fraternity belongs to. Gathered were representatives from fraternities located in northern New England. We came together to pray, to break bread together, to socialize, to make decisions, and to celebrate Eucharist together. During that weekend, I experienced the union that Article 2 speaks of, I saw that we were not a lone community, but really are a part of a larger Order.

Today, May 9th, 2009, we hope celebrate a Profession, a person, before the whole fraternity, will “pledge themselves to live the gospel of in the manner of Saint Francis.” We will have the opportunity to renew our own profession of the Rule. The question we need to ask ourselves, is this renewal just superficial, or is it a heartfelt declaration that we again intend to intensely live the Rule?

As part of my commemoration of the 800th anniversary of the founding of the Franciscan Order, I have been reading Franciscan book containing a selection of New Testament readings, and a selection of writings of St. Francis and other early Franciscan authors. And reading these two sources together and reflecting on them, fills me with inspiration, but also with sadness. Sadness about how short of the mark I am in living the gospel in the spirit of St. Francis. I ask all of you in joining with me in rekindling the fire of the Franciscan spirit in our fraternity, in our Order, a fire that will burn brightly for the all the Church and the world to see.