St. Clare of Assisi

Image of St. Clare with one hand holding a cross, the other opened palm forward

Clare

Clare
hidden in the shadows
of San Damiano,
spent her jars of
precious nard
witnessing to the
Passion.
Daily she recited what
Francis carried
after worm met Seraph
in the cocoon of La Verna,
and was given
bloody wings,
to flutter and spatter
forgiveness
for two more years.
But she lived on
and on
and on
bereft
of the comfort
of communion
with her twin flame.





Did she long to
set the world afire
with her preaching?
This was not given.
Did she ache to part
with the convent garden
and bear the Child
and Master Healer
into the world?
This was not given.
Hers was the "better part"
(Francis must have consoled
him again and again).
She was to sit
at the Lord's feet,
at the foot of His Cross,
drinking in
every word and sigh.
She was the
enduring oil lamp,
now eternal flame.
She was the seed
fallen to the ground
of her own
cloister garden,
blossoming sturdy
and now evergreen.




"This day a brilliant star rises,
for today St. Clare,
the poor handmaid of the lord,
is glorified in heaven."


Entrance Antiphon for the feast of St. Clare
(Franciscan Supplement to the Roman Missal)

St. Clare of Assisi
(1193 - 1253)

St. Clare's experiences of Christ as a child, and her intense devotion to the Passion of Christ anticipate both the the child-like trust and stark gospel asceticism of another great contemplative ...Therese of Lisieux.

St. Clare is shown here holding a jeweled or flowering Cross, blossoming with garnets indicating the transfiguration of the five wounds of the Risen Lord.

This icon was commissioned by the new parish of St. Clare of Assisi in Edwards, Colorado.







The Seal of Creighton University
This page is managed by
Fr. Raymond A. Bucko, S.J.
of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology
at Creighton University.

E-Mail: bucko@creighton.edu

Page Last Updated: August 16, 2001