Order of Saint Clare (the Poor Clares)
Author: Schoonebeek, Adriaan, ca. 1660-1714
Image Title: Order of Saint Clare (the Poor Clares)
Description: This etched print features Clare of Assisi (1194 – 1253 CE), the foundress of the Order of Poor Ladies, or the “Poor Clares,” the female counterpart to the Order of Friars Minor, or Fransciscans. About 1212 CE, moved by the teaching of Francis of Assisi (1181/2 – 1226 CE), Clare gave up all her possessions and joined him at the Porziuncula. He placed her first in a Benedictine house before moving her to San Damiano outside the walls of Assisi. When other women wishing to live on Franciscan lines came to join her, she was made abbess, a position she held until the end of her life. Pope Alexander IV (d. 1261) canonized her in 1255. With this scene, the artist renders the story of Clare’s confrontation with Saracen troops in the pay of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (1194 – 1250 CE). By imperial order, regiments of the Saracen military were stationed in the region, prepared to seize the cities of the region. As Frederick’s army was devastating the valley of Spoleto, his hired Saracens scaled the walls of San Damiano by night. In response to the bedlam this surprise invasion created, Clare calmly took a ciborium and confronted the invaders. As she raised it, the Saracens fell backward as if stunned .
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