Clare of Assisi, one of the first…

Clare of Assisi, one of the first followers of Francis of Assisi and founder the Order of Poor Ladies to organize the women who chose to embrace monastic life in the Franciscan vision, had continued to promote the growth of her order after Francis’s death in 1225, writing letters to abbesses in other parts of Europe and thwarting every attempt by each successive Pope to impose a Rule on her order which watered down the radical commitment to corporate poverty she had originally embraced.

She did this despite the fact that she had endured a long period of poor health until her death at fifty-nine on August 11, 1253.

She had been canonized in 1255, and in 1263, Pope Urban IV officially changes the name of the Order of Poor Ladies to the Order of Saint Clare.

(On February 17, 1958, Pope Pius XII will designate her as the patron saint of television, on the basis that, when she was too ill to attend a Mass, she had been miraculously able to see and hear it on the wall of her room.

The Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) will be founded by Mother Angelica, a Poor Clare.)