CLARE OF ASSISI: A WOMAN’S LIFE [Symbols of the feminine in her writings], by Jean-François Godet-Calogeras, Tau Publishing, Phoenix, AZ, 2013, 41 pp.
This little monograph is a study
that encompases:
1. What is
the Feminine?
2. The
Feminine in Clare’s Writings.
3. The Women
in Clare’s Writings.
4. Men
Referred to in Clare’s Writings.
It is indeed this that we see when
we look, with a hindsight of history, at Clare and Francis: a woman who was
tender and strong, and a man who was strong
and tender, both nourishers. When a man and a woman set about serving
life, they become free from the entanglement of fear and competition.
They stop marching to inhuman rules of gender domination and dance
instead within the marvelous and freeing rhythm
of mutual and loving service. Each acknowledges her or his difference
as a woman, as a man; each nourishes the other to the point of completeness.
In God’s plan the truly human
exists only when there is masculine and feminine, feminine and masculine.
This little book is recommended
for any of our libraries, and especially for those in formation and study.
THE FIRST FRANCISCAN WOMAN: CLARE OF ASSISI AND HER FORM OF LIFE, by Margaret Carney, OSF, Franciscan Press, Quincy, Illinois, 1993, 261pp.
During the year of study at the Capuchin Franciscan Institute (Antonianum, Rome) I was privileged to take two courses given by Margaret Carney. In one of the courses on Francsican Women, Margaret presented us with much of the research she was doing for this book. At her doctoral defense of this work, one of the examiners asked her if her stance on women in this work wasn’t a bit much? She looked up from her desk and replied: “Absolutely not!” The audience stood and applauded her response.
For five years I was able to share the research of this work with our novices as well as three monasteries of Poor Clares (Bronx, Bordentown, Stamford). And the response has been positively refreshing. Margaret is a genius in her use of the sources, especiallly designing critical composites from them.
In chapter I, “Francis and Clare in the Sources,” Margaret presents a chronology of both founders, especially looking in the sources for those times when their lives intersected or came together. As she presents this, she also offers fresh insights from the critical composite of the sources.
In chapter II, “The Rule of Clare” Margaret not only treats of the origins of Clare’s form of life, but examines it in contrast to the Rules of Hugolino and Innocent IV which preceded her Rule. Clare, notes Margaret, was the first woman to write a rule that was approved by the church. Regarding Clare’s Rule, Maragaret writes: “It is extremely important to promote study that recovers the (Rule) text as a primary source of general Franciscan spirituality” [p.97]. In effect, she’s saying that ignorance of Clare’s Rule or any of the Rules of our Order, leaves a gap of ignorance in our Franciscan spirituality on our Franciscan journey.
In chapters III (Clare’s Incarnation of Gospel Poverty), IV (Clare’s Incarnation of Mutual Charity), and V (Clare’s Definition of Governance), Margaret uses the image of an analytical `triptych’ in which Clare’s Rule will be the central subject, but will be enlightened and commented upon by means of two adjoining sections. . . , a section that provides a brief survey of the situation of medieval women. . . , (a) section (that) deal(s) with…the historical development of the Friars Minor for the period between the death of Francis and the death of Clare [p.99]. So as Margaret treats of Clare’s ideas on poverty, mutual charity and governance, she flavors her research by giving a picture of what was happening with both medieval women and the friars.
Her final chapter, “The Charism of Clare and Contemporary Religious Life” brings the entire discussion into focus for our present stage of living the charism as Franciscan men and women.
This work should be in all our libraries, and without doubt, in those of our formation units.
CLARE OF ASSISI by Marco Bartoli, translated by Frances Teresa, OSC, Darton, Longman and Todd, London, 1993, 244 pp. Available in USA from Franciscan Press, Quincy College, Quincy, Il.
A biography on Clare that first appeared in Italian in 1989 is now made available in English—a most welcome addition to the new litgerature appearing on St.Clare. Baratoli, an Italian historian and specialist in St.Francis and St.Clare is of the school of Raoul Manselli [Cf. Manselli’s ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI, Franciscan Herald Press, 1988. Reviewed in a previous issue of Newslettr.] In this work Bartoli avails himself of the latest scholarship as he takes a closer look at Clare from her writings, the Legend, and other writings about her such as the Process of Canonization.
Bartoli then weaves his material together into very plausible insights into the life of the Lady Clare. He tries at times “to reflect on [her] attitudes and intentions” [p. 37], which Bartoli masterfully accomplishes through his approach to the sources. One aspect that seems to permeate the entire work is the attempt on Bartoli’s part to fill in the gaps in the sources we have on St.Clare by using the later research, for example, that which is being done on women’s studies and other forms of scholarship. An example of filling in the gaps would be the following. The reaction of Clare’s family to her Palm Sunday flight from her home was to go to the monastery where she was and they tried by threats and promises to dissuade her from embracing this “worthless deed”. This was a scandal to the family. “What was the vilitas, the worthlessness of her act, which maade it so unbecoming to her class and never before seen in the district” [p.46]? Clare converted her inheritance into alms and that of her sister as well, and gave it to the poor. What was the content of this inheritance? We can be sure it consisted of the dowry which the family had set aside for the marriages of Clare and Beatrice….The dowry system was becoming the custom whereby that part of the paternal inheritance due to the daughter was given her in advance…to enhance her chances of an advantageous marriage….Thus it is highly likely that Clare…would have received her dowry before she fled from her father’s house. . . .Clare’s `crime’ [vilitas] was that she refused to use her dowry to procure a good marriage. . . .The vilitas not only referred to what she had done but also to the condition in which she was living. . .” [pp.46-48].
All the nuns at San Paolo Monastery were members of the nobility [who] had men and women servants. When Clare knocked at the doors of this monastery she was not seeking to be received as a nun which her social status would have permitted, but as a servant [italics mine] which her new social condition demanded….This would have been the `crime’ which her family wanted her to renounce” [pp.49-50]. So when one reads in the Legend the words “worthless
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST. CLARE, by Ramona Miller, OSF, Franciscan Institute Publications, St.Bonaventure, NY, 1993, 100pp.
A most timely work during the eighth centenary year of Clare of Assisi’s birth! Ramona Miller, a Franciscan Sister of Rochester, Minnesota and staff member of The Assisi Experience, has researched all the places associated with the life of St. Clare. She devotes a chapter to each of nine major places–the Family Home, San Rufino, Perugia, Porziuncola, Monastery of San Paolo in Bastia, Sant’Angelo in Panzo, San Damiano, San Giorgio, Basilica of Santa Chiara. In each of these sections, Ramona Miller treats of Clare’s involvement, then gives historical background, some further reflections, and suggested readings. So if a pilgrim is interested in walking through Assisi in Clare’s footsteps, this is the work to guide one into the heart of the Lady Clare.
Optatus van Asseldonck, OFM Cap says one can no longer study or speak of Francis without Clare or vice-versa. They are originators of the Franciscan movement. So on any trip to Assisi, a pilgrim would benefit from carrying both Desbonnets’ and Miller’s works. Finally, Eric Doyle, OFM wrote: “Besides the writings of St.Francis (and Clare) and the early written sources of (their) life and message, THERE STILL REMAINS ONE MORE SOURCE: THE CITY OF ASSISI ITSELF….Anyone who wants to penetrate the mystery of St.Francis (and St.Clare) really ought to visit Assisi.” To learn this city-source well, the GUIDE TO ASSISI: HISTORY AND ART is an excellent companion to your journey. This book can be purchased in Assisi. Both volumes IN THE FOOTSTEPS can be purchased from: The Franciscan Store, Pulaski, WI.
CLARE OF ASSISI: INVESTIGATIONS, compiled by Mary Francis Hone, OSC, “Clare Centenary Series,” Vol. VII, Franciscan Institute Publications: St.Bonaventure, N.Y., 1993, 115pp.
This book is a series of five lectures presented at the Medieval Congress in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in May 1992.
In the first lectue, Sr.Roberta McKelvie, osf gives us a fresh look at “Clare’s Rule: Weaving Together Law and Life.” It is a brief look at Clare’s Rule using the “image of a tapestry, a weaving together of threads of different color and texture.” [p.2] Some of the “threads” McKelvie looks at are the Franciscan vocation, the concept of law, living poorly, the work of one’s hands, and the call as lived in unity of mind and heart. Regarding Clare’s Rule, Sr. Margaret Carney, OSF says that ignorance of the Rule of Clare would be ignorance of one facet of our Franciscan spirituality. McKelvie’s article is another help to dispel this ignorance for all Franciscans.
In “Clare of Assisi, the Eucharist and John 13,” Michael Blastic, OFM Conv writes: “The image of Christ washing the apostles’ feet struck Francis so much so that Francis’ intention in naming the Order that of Friars Minor is strictly linked with this image of Christ as foot washer. This is a key element of Francis’ spirituality, one that Clare made her own” [p.36]. From this premise, Blastic moves on to some fascinating reflections on Eucharist, Clare, and foot-washing–a refreshing insight worth pursuing.
In “Like a Beguine: Clare before 1212,” Sr. Ingrid Peterson, OSF gives some fascinating background to the Offreduccio Women—the women of Clare’s extended family household, nine in all. She identifies each one and goes on to show how much of their life was “Like a Beguine” — “women who sought an alternate to life in a monastic enclosure or in an anchorage” [p.57]. It is pertinent to an understanding of life at San Damiano, for several of these women become members of that very community.
In “The Legenda Versificata: Towards an Official Biography,” Regis Armstrong, OFM Cap takes a look at this work on the Lady Clare, giving its background, an outline of the work itself, the insights it has to offer, concluding that it is a work not to be ignored.
In the last article “Elias and Clare: An Enigmatic Relationship,” Michael Cusato, OFM makes some refreshing observations about Elias whose reputation has suffered an negative influence right into this century. Clare writes in her second letter to St.Agnes of Prague (c.1235-37): “In all of this, follow the counsel of our venerable father, our Brother Elias, the Minister General, that you may walk more securely in the way of the commands of the Lord.”
This was written during the waning years of Elias’ term as General Minister, the years he struggled with difficulties among the friars. Now in this battle (of Clare’s for the privilege of poverty), apparently it was Elias who was highly instrumental in pleading Clare’s case before Gregory IX, perhaps in 1228 but most certainly throughout the 1230s, as this letter makes quite clear. The praise which Clare reserves for Elias in her letter to Agnes and the esteem in which she holds him is thus directly related to his defense of the privilege of poverty for herself and her sisters. . . , a privilege she did obtain on 15 April 1238 [p.99].
Elias is generally regarded as the architect of the Basilica of San Francesco. “Clare does not appear to be opposed to the Basilica (because it was) not owned by the friars…, (and) the construction of the Basilica was dependent upon the alms of others.”[pp.108-9] “Thus given the evidence at hand, Clare does not appear to have harbored any resentment of or antagonism towards Elias” [p.110].
This volume is valuable for any library, especially those of our formation units.