, the founder of the Clares, an order of nuns so called from her,
, the founder of the Clares, an
order of nuns so called from her, was born at Assisi, in
1193, and was a model of piety and devotion from her infancy, according to her biographers, whose account is
certainly a model of credulity and superstition. Her
parents were persons of rank, from whom in 1212 she ran
away, and went to St. Francis, who cloathed her in his
habit, a piece of sackcloth tied about her with a cord, and
sent her to a Benedictine nunnery, and from this epoch
the poor Clares date their foundation. She was next
placed by St. Francis in a new house of nuns, of which she
was appointed the superior, and which was soon crowded
with devotees of rank. This female community practised
austerities, “of which,
” we are told, “people in the world
have hardly any conception.
” They not only went without shoes and stockings, lay on the ground, and kept perpetual abstinence, but were enjoined profound silence,
unless in cases of the greatest necessity. Pope Innocent
IV. in 1251, confirmed to this order the privilege of poverty, without any property in common. St. Clare’s abstinence and mortifications brought her into a miserable state
of disease, from which she was released Aug. 11, 1253,
and was buried the day following, on which her festival is
kept. Alexander IV. canonized her in 1255. The nuns
of St. Clans are divided into Damianists and Urbanists.
The former follow the rule given by St. Francis to St.
Clare; the latter are mitigated, and follow the rules given
by Urban IV. From their name, Minoresses, sometimes
given them, our Minories near Aldgate, is derived, where
they had a nunnery from the year 1293.