Secular Clares
Author: Schoonebeek, Adriaan, ca. 1660-1714
Image Title: Secular Clares
Description: This etched print features a secular member of the Order of Saint Clare giving alms to one of the Order’s mendicants, most of whom make strict poverty and radical simplicity part of their Rule. These secular, the “Sisters of Penance,” together with their male counterparts and vowed brothers and sisters, comprise Francis of Assisi’s Third Order, which embraces devout persons of both sexes living in the world and following a rule of life. Tradition marks 1221 as the date of the foundation of the Sisters of Penance, now known as tertiaries. This third order was devised by Francis as a sort of middle state between the cloister and the world for those who, wishing to follow in the saint’s footsteps, were debarred by marriage or other ties from entering either the first or second order .
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