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Clare of Assisi (born Chiara Offreduccio, sometimes spelled Clara, Clair, Claire; 16 July 1194 – 11 August 1253) was an Italian saint and one of the first followers of Francis of Assisi. Inspired by the teachings of St. Francis, she founded the Order of Poor Ladies, a monastic religious order for women in the Franciscan tradition. The order of poor ladies was different from any other order or convent because it followed a rule of strict poverty. Clare wrote their Rule of Life, the first set of monastic guidelines known to have been written by a woman. Following her death, the order she founded was renamed in her honor as the Order of Saint Clare, commonly referred to today as the Poor Clares. Her feast day is on 11 August.

Clare was born in Assisi to the Offreduccio household during the High Middle Ages, the eldest daughter of Favarone or Favorino Sciffi, Count of Sasso-Rosso, and his wife Ortolana. Traditional accounts say that Clare's father was a wealthy representative of an ancient Roman family, who owned a large palace in Assisi and a castle on the slope of Mount Subasio. Ortolana belonged to the noble family of Fiumi and was a very devout woman who had undertaken pilgrimages to Rome, Santiago de Compostela, and the Holy Land. Later in life, Ortolana entered Clare's monastery, as did Clare's sisters, Beatrix and Catarina (who took the name Agnes and was later declared a saint herself).

As a child, Clare along with all her sisters was taught the ways of Christianity by her mother and as a result, she and her sisters all became very religious and devoted to prayer. When she was 12 years old, Clare's parents wanted her to marry a young wealthy man, however, she protested and said that she didn’t want to marry until she turned 18. However, as a teen, she heard Francis preach during a Lenten service in the church of San Giorgio at Assisi. Inspired by his words and knowing that marriage was rapidly approaching, Clare went to St. Francis and asked him to help her to live after the manner of the Gospel. On the evening of Palm Sunday, 20 March 1212, with the consent of Guido II, bishop of Assisi Clare left her father's house and accompanied by her aunt Bianca and another companion proceeded to the chapel of the Porziuncula to meet Francis. There, her hair was cut (a symbolic act showing that she was no longer bound by the laws of man/society but rather she followed the will of God. This act also released Clare from her father's control as the law of the time stated that once a woman's hair has been cut and she has pledged herself to God, she is no longer considered the property of any man therefore her father could not legally compel her to do anything), and she exchanged her rich gown for a plain robe and veil.

Francis placed Clare in the convent of the Benedictine nuns of San Paulo, near Bastia. Her father along with other members of her family attempted to convince her to return home. At first, they tried to coerce her with wealth, promises, and other allurements but she resisted each attempt, professing that she would have no other husband but Jesus Christ. Finally, when they tried to use force she clung to the altar of the church and threw aside her veil to show her cropped hair. It was only after seeing her cropped hair did her family leave and let her be at peace. In order to provide the greater solitude Clare desired, a few days later Francis sent her to Sant' Angelo in Panzo, another monastery of the Benedictine nuns on one of the flanks of Subasio. Only 16 days later Clare was unexpectedly joined by her sister Catarina, who took the name, Agnes. This caused a tremendous uproar in Clare's family as now two of their girls refused marriage and left the family. Clare's uncle Monaldo, who was head of the family came to Sant’ Angelo in Panzo with a group of men to bring Agnes back. He confronted Agnes with force and abuse while Clare was praying for her sister's safety. In the end, Monaldo left empty-handed as he and his men failed to force Agnes to return home. The sisters remained with the Benedictines until a small dwelling was built for them (this dwelling was quickly prepared as Francis and the Benedictines feared further conflict with Monaldo and other relatives of Clare and Agnes) next to the church of San Damiano, which Francis had repaired some years earlier. Other women joined them, and they were known as the "Poor Ladies of San Damiano". They lived a simple life of poverty, austerity, and seclusion from the world, according to a Rule which Francis gave them as a Second Order (Poor Clares).

San Damiano became the center of Clare's new religious order, which was known in her lifetime as the "Order of Poor Ladies of San Damiano". San Damiano is traditionally considered the first house of this order; it may have been affiliated with an existing network of women's religious houses organized by Hugolino (who later became Pope Gregory IX). Hugolino wanted San Damiano as part of the order he founded because of the prestige of Clare's monastery. San Damiano emerged as the most important house in the order, and Clare became its undisputed leader. By 1263, just ten years after Clare's death, the order had become known as the Order of Saint Clare.

Unlike the Franciscan friars, whose members moved around the country to preach, Saint Clare's sisters lived in an enclosure, since an itinerant life was hardly conceivable at the time for women. Their life consisted of manual labor and prayer. The nuns went barefoot, slept on the ground, ate no meat, and observed almost complete silence. This was in accordance with the strict teachings of poverty imbued upon Clare by Francis. Francis and Clare believed that through poverty they could become closer to Jesus as they would live the way he did. They were not inconvenienced by this lifestyle but rather they believed this was a blessing as they were following in the footsteps of Christ.

For a short period, the order was directed by Francis himself. Then in 1216, Clare reluctantly accepted the role of abbess of San Damiano. Clare never cared for titles or power and only took on the role of abbess because Francis had ordered her to do so. In fact, Clare referred to herself as mother, handmaid, or servant rather than abbess. As Abbess Clare was very shy and did not like giving orders. On the rare occasions when she would give orders, she would do so with great humility and shyness. Clare would purposefully save the most tedious tasks for herself because she always wished to take care of her sisters. As Abbess, Clare had more authority to lead the order than when she was the prioress and required to follow the orders of a priest heading the community. Clare sought to imitate Francis' virtues and way of life so much so that she was sometimes titled alter Franciscus, another Francis. She also played a significant role in encouraging and aiding Francis, whom she saw as a spiritual father figure, and she took care of him during his final illness.

After Francis's death, Clare continued to promote the growth of her order, writing letters to abbesses in other parts of Europe (including Saint Agnes of Prague with whom she had formed a close friendship), however with Francis gone she faced another challenge. The fourth Lateran council of 1215 decreed that any new religious communities that had not yet been approved would have to adopt an established order. This established order was very similar to the Rule of Saint Benedict (the rule of Saint Benedict was the common rule that all monasteries followed). Clare viciously fought to keep her rule of strict poverty. Ultimately when the other priests and bishops refused to accept her rule of strict poverty she sought to get a special privilege from the pope. If granted, this special privilege of poverty “Privilegium Paupertatis” from the pope would allow her order to keep living their lives in strict poverty as they wanted. This was an unprecedented move at the time, especially because Clare was a woman. In fact, there was no precedent in the Vatican for this singular privilege of poverty so Pope Innocent III himself hand-drew the outline for this privilege and approved it. Clare's war was not yet won, however. Even though Pope Innocent III had approved Clare's privilege and his successor Pope Honorius III had no problem with it, Pope Gregory IX who came after Pope Honorius III did have a problem with Clare's lifestyle of strict poverty. Pope Gregory IX was in fact the Cardinal Huglino who had previously known and worked with Clare and her order at San Damiano. During this time he came to care for Clare and she became very dear (not in a romantic way) to him. Pope Gregory IX was worried about the health of Clare and the other sisters which is why he wanted Clare to abandon her way of strict poverty. During a visit to San Damiano Pope Gregory urged Clare to give up her way of strict poverty, he said to her “If you fear because of your vow, We dispense you from it.” to which she immediately responded ”Holy father, never and in no way do I wish to be dispensed from following Christ!” At that moment Pope Gregory IX had no more objections and during his second year as pope reapproved the Privilegium Paupertatis. Still, however, Clare had one more battle left to fight. She wanted to make a rule based on Francis’s teachings. A rule that would be set in stone for her sisters to follow long after she was gone. So she got to work and began writing her own rule, keeping Francis’s teachings at the forefront of her mind. Her rule especially emphasized the absolute non-possession of property. She had her rule approved by Cardinal Rainaldo and did not rest until Pope Innocent IV approved it as well. Clare's Franciscan theology of joyous poverty in imitation of Christ is evident in the rule she wrote for her community and in her four letters to Agnes of Prague.

As Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II battled Pope Gregory IX for control of Italy during the Crusades era, separately in September 1240 and June 1241, a pair of armies attacked the monastery of San Damiano and the town of Assisi. Both targets were successfully defended as Clare prayed to Christ, present in the Blessed Sacrament.

In her later years, Clare endured a long period of poor health. She died on 11 August 1253 at the age of 59 one day after having her rule approved by Pope Innocent IV. Her last words are reported to have been, "Blessed be You, O God, for having created me."