St. Clare Of Assisi Round Medal and Necklace

Sterling Silver St. Clare Of Assisi Medal and Necklace

14KT Gold Filled St. Clare Of Assisi Medal and Necklace

14KT Gold St Clare Of Assisi Medal

St. Clare

Saint Clare was born of noble parents in 1196, in the city of Assisi. Her mother was a woman of great holiness. Before Clare’s birth she made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, a long and arduous journey in those days. On her return, just before her daughter’s birth, as she was praying before the crucifix in the monastery at Assisi for the safe delivery of her child, she heard a voice saying to her: “Have no fear, woman; you will bear your child safely, and she will be a torch to give a clear light to the world”.

Meeting St. Francis of Assisi

So when the child was born soon after, she called her Clare, for in Latin the word clara means ‘shining’ or ‘bright’. Clare never left Assisi. She was carefully taught and cared for by her mother. The child’s greatest joy was to give alms to the beggars. In the Lent of 1212, when Clare was fifteen years old, St. Francis began to preach at Assisi, and Clare was one of the many who flocked to hear him. Every word he uttered found an echo in her heart, and she wished to follow him.

For three years, however, Francis kept Clare in suspense. It had not yet entered into his plan to provide for women in his apostolic work. It is said that to try the strength of Clare’s pm St. Francis bade her put on coarse clothes and beg bread through the streets of Assisi, and she did so unra nized in her disguise. He did not allow her to change h way of life in her own home, but bade her keep her heart poor and lowly under the rich clothes her parents provided for her.

After three years of hesitations, anxieties and difficulties, on the eve of Palm Sunday, Clare went to St. Francis and begged him to receive her into his Order. Seeing her great determination, he bade her come to the church of St. Mary of the Angels the following night to make her vows to him and his Brothers. At the appointed time Clare made her vows, and, putting on the Franciscan dress and the rough cord round her waist, she was received into the Franciscan Order. Temporarily she stayed at the Benedictine convent of San Paolo at Bastia.

Forty Years of Prayer

Her father and relatives were furious, but Clare remained adamant in her determination. A few days later she moved to the convent of St. Angelo Michele, about a mile from the city, and her sister Agnes joined her. For forty years Clare was enclosed in her convent at San Damiano, where she practiced the greatest austerity. She was filled to overflowing with God’s grace, and lived in unceasing communion with Him in prayer and contemplation. Her miracles were all worked in direct answer to prayer.

Bishops and Cardinals visited Clare in her poor conent She was joined by several women of her own family. After the death of St. Francis, in 1226, Clare was thrown on her own resources. In 1253, after many cruel illnesses and great mental suffering, Clare lay on her deathbed. For seventeen days she endured her agony, but no word of complaint ever passed her lips. It was on August 11, 1253, that she died, and as the chronicles say, “she had, for the poor life of poverty and bitterness, the blessed kingdom of Paradise”. With great ceremony the Requiem Mass was sung in the presence of Pope Innocent IV and the Cardinals. At the wish of the people of Assisi, St. Clare’s body was placed in the church of San Giorgio, where it has rested ever since. Pope Alexander IV inscribed her name in the catalogue of the Saints on August 12, 1255

St. Clare of Assisi Rosary
UPC: 617759354553
Brand: Bliss