A Short Reflection on the Feast Day of St. Clare of Assisi
By Austine J. Crasta, STL –
August 11, 2023: Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Clare of Assisi. Popular hagiographies often portray her as a shy and humble follower of St. Francis of Assisi. But it is her unmistakeable prophetic spirit that calls for closer attention: she taught and practiced the right to disobey even legitimate Church authority if their orders contradicted God or conscience!
She demonstrated this conviction when she resisted the Pope who visited her (1228) to persuade her to accept a different way of life, and later when she rejected the papal bull Quo elongati (1230) that threatened the vital bond between her community at San Damiano and the Friars Minor. In both cases, Clare prevailed, securing the ‘privilege of poverty’ and an exemption from the norms of Quo elongati for San Damiano.
These examples show that Clare was not a passive or silent Saint who blindly obeyed the directives of legitimate authorities even when they were harmful or unjust. She was an extraordinarily courageous woman for her time who stood up for her convictions and defended her charism. If there is anything that St. Clare challenges us to today, it is to overcome our cowardice and our justifications for it, which are not compatible with the courageous spirit of the Saints to whose company we are called.
Austine J. Crasta is a theologian, visual artist and a catholic communicator from Bangalore, India and currently based out of Belgium.