Patron Saint of TV
Dear Folk,

Today, August 12, is the saint's day of a daughter of a count. This lady, who turned her back on riches, was responsible for maintaining the order of nuns she founded and their brother order. Furthermore she is the Patron Saint of TVs and monitors.

Born July 16, 1194, Clare was lacking for nothing. Her father was Favorino Scifi (I know: looks like Science Fiction), Count of Sasso-Rosso and her mom was Ortolana from the Fiumi family. Gosh, they had villas and wine presses, servants and carriages. Of course, Clare even as a child thought nothing of this. All she wanted to do was pray. Her family prayed, too; they prayed she would outgrow this piety, find a nice rich guy and settle down. Well, she did find a guy.

When she was 18, she heard Francis (later St. Francis of Assisi) preach in church of San Giorgio in Assisi. It was Lent – a season for self-denial and prayer. After his rousing sermon, Clare sought out Francis and begged him for the secret to living in the manner of the Holy Gospel. Francis found a kindred spirit in Clare. He knew her for the beacon she would become. He promised to help her.

On Palm Sunday, March 20, 1212, Clare dressed to the nines and headed out to hear Mass at the cathedral. When everyone else went up to get a palm branch, Clare kept to her place in holy rapture. Everyone turned and stared. The bishop even came over to her specially to give her a palm branch. This was the last she appeared to the world as the rich count's daughter.

That night she and her aunt Bianca and another gal stole quietly out of the house and met with Francis and his disciples. She had Francis help cut off her beautiful hair, got rid of her finery, and put on a poor monk's robes and a thick veil.

Francis had to do something with her so he put her with the Benedictine nuns. Good thing he did, too. Her father was not at all pleased that Clare had opted out of the secular world. She was his eldest daughter. She was supposed to marry some guy and unify the Scifi with another rich household. So much for that. He argued and pleaded with her when he found out where she was. He even tried to drag her out by force. Fortunately, the Benedictine nuns had metal-edged rulers and knew how to use them.

It got worse for the good Count. Sixteen days after Clare took off, her younger sister Agnes joined her. Agnes later was also elevated to sainthood. The ladies stayed with various Benedictine monasteries until Francis got permission for them to move into a poor chapel of San Damiano. This became the first community of the Order of Poor Ladies, or of Poor Clares. This was the second order that Francis founded.

Clare turned out to be just as austere and stubborn as Francis. When Francis was off in the East, Cardinal Ugolino (later Gregory IX) drew up a rule for the Benedictines which was extended to the Franciscans. It had to do with permission to own property in common. Clare politely turned that down. Owning property, even in common, was antithetical to the spirit of the Poor Clares and the Poor Friars. Later when Francis died and Gregory came to Assisi to canonize St. Francis, Gregory offered Clare some cash to hold onto for emergencies. Clare turned it down. Gregory thought that maybe she was just worried about violating her vow of poverty, so he offered to absolve her from her vow. "Holy Father, I crave for absolution from my sins," replied Clare, "but I desire not to be absolved from the obligation of following Jesus Christ".

Pope Gregory was thunderstruck but he really got behind her on this. He sent her a letter, which still exists, saying that it was cool with him if they wanted to give away everything. Funny, after Gregory died, Clare had to fight once again to make sure that they could stay poor. If you remember the Cathars and how they were treated, you may understand that folks being too pious seems to irritate others, especially those in power.

Even though Clare probably never did leave Assisi, her influence was felt throughout the Christian world. Not only did her sister Agnes join the order but her sister Beatrix, her mother Ortolana, and her aunt Bianca did also. The order of the Poor Clares spread throughout Italy and then the rest of Europe. These ladies did manual labor and prayed. They took care of the sick and dying.

When Francis was in doubt about his calling, he came to Clare. She urged him on to do God's work. When Francis was ill and blind, he came to Clare. She put him in a little wattle hut in an olive grove close to the monastery. It was there he composed his Canticle to the Sun. When he died, the procession with his body stopped so Clare and the other Poor Ladies could venerate him one last time.

When, in 1234, the army of Frederick II was devastating the valley of Spoleto, the soldiers were preparing to assault Assisi. They scaled the walls of San Damiano by night, spreading terror among the community. Clare, calmly rising from her sick bed, and taking the ciborium (the shrine which holds the Holy Eucharist) from the little chapel adjoining her cell, proceeded to face the invaders at an open window against which they had already placed a ladder. It is related that, as she raised the Blessed Sacrament on high, the soldiers who were about to enter the monastery fell backward as if dazzled, and the others who were ready to follow them took flight. It is with reference to this incident that St. Clare is generally represented in art bearing a ciborium. It is also this blinding light which links her with your TV and computer monitor. There is a story that she also saw visions on squares in her wall. Need I say more?

When, some time later, a larger force returned to storm Assisi, headed by the General Vitale di Aversa who had not been present at the first attack, Clare, gathering her flock about her, knelt with them in earnest prayer that the town might be spared. Suddenly a furious storm arose, scattering the tents of the soldiers in every direction, and causing such a panic that they again took skeedaddled. The lightning of electrons links her with cathode ray tubes everywhere.

The townspeople were, of course, incredibly grateful. Those nuns up the hill were first in their hearts from then on. Clare was sick and dying. Pope Innocent IV came to visit her, her family was all there. On August 11, 1253 she passed peacefully into the arms of her Lord.

Of course there was then the business about who got her remains and could they build a nice church for her. It was the sort of thing that Clare probably would not have approved. It took only two years for Clare to make be made a saint. Her saint's day is August 12. They buried her under the high altar of a new church of Santa Chiara. In 1850 they found her remains, again, and opened the coffin. I guess you want to know what was in there? Well, six hundred years does cause most things to decay. Her skeleton looked pretty good but the rest was dust. They reburied her in the crypt of the same church. You can visit her remains if you are in Assisi, Italy.

The Poor Clares went on, doing good and being good. Ladies and men of all faiths have been helped by their simple and good-hearted caring. Theirs is the best of Christianity in my humble opinion.

What have we learned from this? It is hard to convince folks you really want to be good? Fathers rarely understand daughter's wishes? Don't mess with nuns? Giving away things confuses and angers some folk? How about turn off your TVs and computers during lightning storms?

After all of this sermon, I expect to see some nice St. Clare images on your computers out there. I have one on my monitor at work. The St. Clare or Sinclair family in Scotland have other interesting stories to tell.

As always, if you are sacking a town and desire to dement the poor folk there by forcing these missives upon them, do me the courtesy of leaving my name and sig attached.

Seeking shelter in the storm,

1. Ellsworth Weaver
   

SCA – Sir Balthazar of Endor
AS – Polyphemus Theognis
TRV – Sebastian Yeats