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St Clare of Assisi and the Poor Clares: a new spring

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Paul M. Gerrard
Paul M. Gerrard*
Affiliation:
King’s College, University of London
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Extract

The Second Vatican Council (1962-5) called for religious orders to renew themselves in a two-fold return to the sources of their Christian life, jointly to the Gospels and to the inspiration of each institute’s founder, a process to be combined with a movement to bring the religious life into line with the ‘tenor of the times’.

Thirty years after the issuing on 28 October 1965 of Perfectae Caritatis, the conciliar decree on the religious life, it seems particularly relevant to look at how far this renewal has been enacted since the Council. Furthermore, given the theme of this volume it seems especially apt to examine the role which that call for the rediscovery of the founder’s spirit has played in one such renewal.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 33: The Church Retrospective , 1997 , pp. 547 - 561
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1997

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References

1 Perfectae Caritatis (28 October 1965) in Vatican Council II – the Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, ed. A. Flannery, O.P. (Dublin, 1992) [hereafter Flannery], pp. 611–22.

2 All quotations from Poor Clare sisters are taken from a series of interviews and written questionnaires carried out by the author. Personal interviews were undertaken with some sisters and then, in the light of these interviews, a questionnaire was drawn up which was sent out to those sisters who preferred to answer by post. The different medium of each quotation, either interview or written questionnaire, is indicated in the relevant note, as is the date of the interview or the month in which the written questionnaire was received by the author.

3 Perfectae Caritatis, 2b, Flannery, p. 612.

4 Evangelico Testificatio (29 June 1971), 11, in Flannery, pp. 680–706.

5 Modern work on Clare includes: Marco Bartoli, Clare of Assisi, trans. Sister Frances Teresa, O.S.C. (London, 1993); Margaret Carney, O.S.F., The First Franciscan Woman: Clare of Assisi and Her Form of Life (Quincy, 1993), and Brenda M. Bolton and Paul M. Gerrard, ‘Clare in her time’, in The Way Supplement, Contemporary Reflections on the Spirituality of Saint Clare (London, 1994), pp. 42–50.

6 “The Rule of St Clare (1253)’, in Clare of Assisi: Early Documents, ed. Regis Armstrong, O.F.M. Cap. (New York, 1988) [hereafter Armstrong], pp. 60–77.

7 ‘Bull of Canonisation (1255)’, in Armstrong, pp. 176–83.

8 ‘1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Letters to Blessed Agnes of Prague’, ibid., pp. 33–50.

9 ‘Letter to Ermentrude of Bruges’, ibid., pp. 51–3.

10 ‘The Testament of St Clare (1247-1253)’, ibid., pp. 54–9.

11 ‘Blessing of St Clare’, ibid., pp. 78–9.

12 Written questionnaire, sister 5–03, Lynton convent, March 1994.

13 See notes 6, 8, 9, 10, and 11.

14 They are ‘The Legend of St Clare’, in Armstrong, pp. 184–240, and ‘The Acts of the Process of Canonisation (1253)’, ibid., pp. 125–75.

15 ‘The Letters from Saint Clare to Blessed Agnes of Bohemia’, ed. Walter Seton, in Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, 17 (1924), pp. 509–19.

16 Francis and Clare: the Complete Works, Regis Armstrong, O.F.M. Cap., and Ignatius Brady, O.F.M., eds (New York, 1982).

17 See note 14.

18 Escritos de Santa Clara y documentos contemporaneos, I. Omachevarria, O.F.M., ed. (Madrid, 1970).

19 Claire d’Assise: Ecrits, Marie-France Becker, Jean-François Godet, and Thaddée Matura, eds (Paris, 1985).

20 Written questionnaire, sister 10–02, Woodchester convent, March 1994.

21 Interview, sister 1–11, Arundel convent, 7 Feb. 1994.

22 Rene-Charles Dhont, O.F.M., Clare among her Sisters (New York, 1987).

23 ‘The Privilege of Poverty (1216)’, in Armstrong, pp. 82–4.

24 Ibid., p. 84.

25 ‘The Mandate (1238)’, ibid., pp. 107–8.

26 Interview, sister 1–09, Arundel convent, 14 July 1994.

27 Sister Mary Francis, P.C.C., A Right to be Merry (London, 1950).

28 Ibid., p. 60.

29 Interview, sister 1–01, Arundel convent, 14 July 1994.

30 Written questionnaire, sister 5–01, Lynton convent, Aug. 1994.

31 Ibid.

32 Interview, sister 1–01, Arundel convent, 14 July 1994.

33 Written questionnaire, sister 5–04, Lynton convent, Aug. 1994.

34 The Rule and General Constitutions of the Order of Poor Sisters of St Clare (Rome, 1988).

35 Ibid., p. 62.

36 Ibid., p. 49.

37 Written questionnaire, sister 5–01, Lynton convent, Aug. 1994.

38 Written questionnaire, sister 5–01, Lynton convent, Aug. 1994.

39 Interview, sister 1–13, Arundel convent, Aug. 1994.

40 Written questionnaire, sister 5–01, Lynton convent, Aug. 1994.

41 Ibid.

42 Written questionnaire, sister 7–01, San Salvador convent, Sept. 1994.

43 Sister Frances Teresa, O.S.C., This Living Mirror: Reflections on Clare of Assisi (London, 1995), pp. 33–5.

44 ‘The Rule of St Clare (1253)’, VII, Armstrong, p. 70.

45 Philip Berryman, Liberation Theology: the Essential Facts about the Revolutionary Movement in Latin America (London, 1987), p. 42.

46 Ad Gentes (7 Dec. 1965), 26, in Flannery, pp. 813–62.

47 Written questionnaire, sister 5–03, Lynton convent, Feb. 1995.

48 Written questionnaire, sister 10–02, Woodchester convent, Feb. 1995.

49 Written questionnaire, sister 10–01, Woodchester convent, Feb. 1995.

50 Interview, sister 1–01, Arundel convent, 19 Jan. 1995.

51 Mary Francis, A Right to be Merry, p. 99.

52 Interview, sister 1–05, Arundel convent, 19 Jan. 1995.

53 Interview, sister 1–09, Arundel convent, 19 Jan. 1995.

54 Written questionnaire, sister 5–03, Lynton convent, Feb. 1995.

55 Interview, sister 1–09, Arundel convent, 19 Jan. 1995.

56 A Poor Clare Council consists of the abbess, the vicaress, and a number of sisters known as ‘discreets’, who are proportionate in number to the size of the community. Often the discreets are the other officers of the house, for example the novice mistress. See ‘The Rule of St Clare (1253)’, IV, Armstrong, pp. 66–7.

57 Interview, sister 1–05, Arundel convent, 19 Jan. 1995.

58 Written questionnaire, sister 5–03, Lynton convent, Feb. 1995.

59 Interview, sister 1–12, Arundel convent, 19 Jan. 1995.

60 Written questionnaire, sister 10–02, Woodchester convent, Feb. 1995.

61 Interview, sister 1–12, Arundel convent, 19 Jan. 1995.

62 Interview, sister 1–09, Arundel convent, 19 Jan. 1995.

63 Written questionnaire, sister 4–02, Lynton convent, Feb. 1995.

64 Rule and General Constitutions of the Order of Poor Sisters of St Clare (Rome, 1988), pp. 108–10.

65 Sister Frances Teresa, O.S.C., “The fall and rise of the conventual chapter: from chapter 4 of the Rule to the General Constitutions’, Communion and Communication (Rome, 1991), pp. 17–25.

66 Written questionnaire, sister 5–04, Lynton convent, Feb. 1995.

67 Interview, sister 1–06, Arundel convent, 19 Jan. 1995.

68 Written questionnaire, sister 5–01, Lynton convent, Feb. 1995.

69 Interview, sister 1–09, Arundel convent, 19 Jan. 1995.

70 Written questionnaire, sister 5–04, Lynton convent, Feb. 1995.

71 Lumen Gentium (21 November 1964), III, in Flannery, pp. 350–426.

72 Written questionnaire, sister 5–10, Lynton convent, Feb. 1995.

73 ‘The Rule of St Clare (1253)’, IV, 15, in Armstrong, p. 67.

74 ‘The Rule of St Clare (1253)’, IV, 17, ibid., p. 67.

75 ‘The Rule of St Clare (1253)’, IV, 7, ibid., p. 66.

76 ‘The Rule of St Clare (1253)’, IV, 20, ibid., p. 67.

77 ‘The Rule of St Clare (1253)’, IV, 6–8, ibid., p. 66.

78 ‘The Rule of St Clare (1253)’, IV, 13, ibid., pp. 66–7.

79 ‘The Rule of St Clare (1253)’, IV, 16, ibid., p. 67.

80 ‘The Testament of St Clare (1247-53)’, 53, 61, ibid., p. 58.

81 ‘The Bull of Canonization (1255)’, 9, ibid., p. 180.