Shortly after my daughter Clara was born, nearly 11 months ago, I shared her birth with the world on YouTube - realNEO homemovie 1 Women in HypnoBirth in Waterbirth Delivering Baby Happy - and on realNEO and it has since been viewed by nearly 110,000 people.... showing 300-400 people a day (and growing) how pure and simple birth and human life may be, to help the modern world rediscover the dignity of the human person. Feedback and inquiries from expectant mothers (and fathers) shows me the modern world heard us, and Clara helped many babies enjoy the best possible starts in life.

I believe this video demonstrates the authentic value of social media, which has replaced television as the system for global awareness - my family doesn't have television in our house... only internet. While mass media tends to impose a uniform cultural model, based on the logic of consumerism and relativism, personal new media communications like realNEO Homemovie 1 helps humanity to rediscover the dignity of the person and values such as family, life, education and youth... as Pope Benedict XVI wishes through Saint Chiara, AKA St. Clare.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone affirmed this when he presided over a 2008 Mass in Assisi marking the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of St. Clare as patron of television, in 1958. "St. Clare, as patron of television, can help the modern world rediscover the dignity of the human person, says the Pope's secretary of state." About this:

In 1958 Pope Pius XII, realizing the power of television, made Clare its patron saint because of a vision she'd had in bed one Christmas Eve: she witnessed Mass and the manger scene (which, incidentally, was initially conceived by Francis as P. R. for the church). Clare is also the patron of embroiderers; and she's invoked against sore eyes.

I have also seen St. Clare recognized as Patron Saint of the Telephone, and I interpret her as Saint of Telecommunications, which ranges from plain old telephone service to multimedia content and wireless distribution, including that enabled via the Internet. So, her responsibility and domain have grown greatly since the introduction of the television.

In addition, the Catholic church has proclaimed a Patron Saint of Computer Users and the Internet itself - Saint Isidore of Seville:

Why is Saint Isidore the Patron Saint of Internet? Because this saint best reflected the ideals of Internet Users and website designers.  Isidore was the first Christian writer to take on the task of compiling a summary of Catholic theology in the form of his most important work, the Etymologiae. Its title was taken from the method he used in the transcription of his era's knowledge and was similar to a dictionary. This method gave his work a structure similar to that of the database.

Interesting that Saint Isidore is also the Patron Saint of Farmers - Prayer to St. Isidore

Dear Isidore, you know how normal it is to cultivate the land for you were employed as a farm laborer for the greater part of your life. Although you received God's help materially through Angels in the field, all farmers are aided spiritually to see the wonders God has strewn on this earth. Encourage all farmers in their labors and help them to feed numerous people. Amen.

I've posted a few other prayers to St. Clare and Saint Isidore at the end of this posting, for those who pray to saints.

It wasn't until Clara's recent Christening, when the priest asked the blessings of Saint Clara for our Clara, that I realized she was named for more than her great grandmothers (Evelyn and Clara), but also carries the name of Santa Chiara of Assisi. I since researched St. Clare and learned she was an astounding women who founded an order of the Catholic Church with an important historic presence in Cleveland - The Order of Poor Clare Nuns of Perpetual Adoration, who reside at 4108 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland.

This photograph of the Sisters was taken in January, 2007 in the Cloister Chapel.

Our Community

     The Poor Clare Nuns of Perpetual Adoration (P.C.P.A.) are a Pontifical Contemplative Order of Cloistered Nuns with the privilege of Solemn Vows, Papal Enclosure, and Solemn Exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament. The Poor Clares are part of the Second Order of Saint Francis of Assisi.  Through the Vows of their Religious Profession, the Nuns consecrate their entire lives to Adoration of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament, solemnly exposed in the Monstrance in their Monastery Chapel.

     The Nuns wear a traditional Habit with cord and Franciscan Crown Rosary.  They chant the entire Divine Office each day. Traditional devotions of the Order include the Way of the Cross and the Holy Rosary.  The Poor Clares are faithful to the Holy Father and to the Magisterium of the Church.

     Our Extern Sisters live inside the cloister and work outside the Cloister, greeting and assisting visitors, shopping, and taking care of the public side of the Chapel.

Our History

     The Order of Poor Clare Nuns of Perpetual Adoration was founded in Paris, France on December 8, 1854, under the name "Franciscan Nuns of the Most Blessed Sacrament".  This was the same day that the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed a Dogma by Blessed Pope Pius IX.  The Order was founded by Mother Marie Claire Bouillevaux, under the guidance of a Capuchin Franciscan Priest, Father Bonaventure (John Baptist) Heurlaut.  The new Order united the Franciscan form of living the Holy Gospel with special consecration to Eucharistic Adoration in the spirit of thanksgiving. Mother Marie Claire was inspired by the Gospel account of the one leper who returned to give thanks to Our Lord. Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament has been a continual act of Adoration and thanksgiving since the very beginning of the Order.

     From France the Order spread to Poland and Austria. The first American Foundation was established in 1921 by Mother M. Agnes from Vienna, Austria, in the Diocese of Cleveland, Ohio.  In 1925 the Cleveland Monastery became one of the first Cloistered Communities in America to receive the privilege of Solemn Vows.   From this Monastery several foundations were established in Bangladesh and South India as well as other cities in the United States.  Today there are 27 Monasteries of Poor Clare Nuns of Perpetual Adoration, in France, Poland, Austria, Germany, Bangladesh, India, and America.

     One of the best known Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration is Mother Angelica of EWTN fame.  Mother Angelica started her vocation at the Cleveland, Ohio monastery. 

The Poor Clares of Perpetual Hope are actually in need of some material support - their roof and an archway have collapsed. No time like the present to bring public attention to their needs... from their website:

Dear Family,

Who was it that said, "Problems are like grapes . . . they come in bunches?"  They were exactly right!  How true!

Our 75 year-old ceiling on the third floor decided to fall at the same time as an old archway on the first floor!

I can just hear an optimistic reader (viewer) quip, "That's no problem, it's just a challenge!"

Yes, we do have a challenge, but we also have MANY, MANY FRIENDS, BOTH NEAR AND FAR AWAY  with generous hearts!

Some come to worship Jesus every single day . . . in good times and in bad . . . and kneel before Him on His Eucharistic Throne.  Like the Saints of old, they ask Him: "Lord, what would You have me to do?"  Perhaps He will tell them what He told our St. Francis: "Repair My church."

Yes, plaster is falling and rain is pouring in - but we know God has always provided in the past and He will take care of our every need - even A NEW ROOF AND ARCHWAY!

As you, our viewers say your next "Hail Mary" to Our Lady, ask her to help us.  She will probably say: "Do whatever He tells you!"

Jesus has said, "Ask and you shall receive . . ."   Please ask your friends on our behalf to assist us His Adorers.

In advance, we say THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts.

    The Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration
    4108 Euclid Ave
    Cleveland, Ohio 44103

    Phone: 216.361.0783
    Email: InformationandPrayerRequest [at] thepoorclares [dot] com
    Website: thepoorclares.com

I hope this posting may help answer the Sisters' prayers, which I'm sure include prayers to their co-foundress Sister Clare, AKA Sister Chiara, inspiration to Clara Roulet, my Patron Saint of my WWW.

About The Order of Poor Ladies:

In the great Franciscan movement of the thirteenth century an important part was played by this order of religious women, which had its beginning in the convent of San Damiano, Assisi. When St. Clare in 1212, following the advice of St. Francis, withdrew to San Damiano, she was soon surrounded by a number of ladies attracted by the holiness of her life. Among the first to join her were several immediate relatives, including her sister Agnes, her mother, aunt, and niece. Thus was formed the nucleus of the new order. Here St. Clare became the counsellor of St. Francis and after his death remained the supreme exponent of the Franciscan ideal of poverty. "This ideal was the exaltation of the beggar's estate into a condition of spiritual liberty, wherein man would live in conscious dependence upon the providence of God and the good will of his fellowmen". On behalf of the sisters, St. Clare petitioned Innocent III for the "privilege" of absolute poverty, not merely for the individual members but for the community as a whole. Highly pleased with the unusual request he granted it, says the saint's biographer, with his own hand "cum hilaritate magna".

I especially love the following passage about Santa Chiara, from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia:

In particular, Clare threw around poverty that irresistible charm which only women can communicate to religious or civic heroism, and she became a most efficacious coadjutrix of St. Francis in promoting that spirit of unworldliness which in the counsels of God, "was to bring about a restoration of discipline in the Church and of morals and civilization in the peoples of Western Europe".

From Saints Alive:

Clare was born in Assisi in the late twelfth century. When she was eighteen, she was so moved by a sermon given by St. Francis that she abandoned her wealthy family and fled to him. Francis stripped her of her finery and cut her hair. Her outraged father sent thugs to drag her back, but she prevailed. She founded the Poor Clares, an order of women with a doctrine similar to the Franciscans, who were known for their strict austerities: no meat, shoes or beds—but always a hair-shirt. Clare was the last person to see Francis alive, washing his feet on his deathbed. She called herself his "little plant.” In 1958 Pope Pius XII, realizing the power of television, made Clare its patron saint because of a vision she'd had in bed one Christmas Eve: she witnessed Mass and the manger scene (which, incidentally, was initially conceived by Francis as P. R. for the church). Clare is also the patron of embroiderers; and she's invoked against sore eyes. Her feast day is August 11.

Santa Chiara

Born to a count and countess in Assisi in 1193, Chiara (Clare to English-speakers) was a friend of Francesco (Francis) and followed his example against her parents' wishes. At the age of 18 (1211), she left her stately home and ran off to meet Francis. Francis clothed Clare in sackcloth and cut off her hair, signaling her renunciation of the world. She took the veil of the religious life from Francis at the Church of Our Lady of the Angels in Assisi.

Clare pursued her new path unwaveringly, adopting the rule of St. Benedict tempered with Francis's preaching of poverty. She soon gathered a large female following at San Damiano and Francis urged her to set up a convent there. She did so, and became abbess of the new community known as the Poor Clares. Clare's mother and sisters later joined the order, and there are still thousands of members today.

Clare is described as humble, merciful, charming, optimistic and chivalrous. It is said she would get up late at night to tuck in her sisters who had kicked off their covers. Like Francis, Clare was known for her many miracles. Among her most famous feats is using a consecrated Host (communion wafer) to ward off invaders ranging from the Saracens (1240) to the local trouble-maker Vitale d'Aversa (1241).

Bed-ridden on Christmas Eve 1252, Clare was upset that her illness was keeping her from Mass in the new Basilica of St. Francis in town. Suddenly, she was blessed with a vision of the Mass, both hearing and seeing it miraculously from several miles away. This led a modern pope to pronounce her the patron saint of television in 1958. She is also patron of sore eyes.

History of St. Clare of Assisi, from Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration Website

(Principal source - Catholic Encyclopedia - 1913 edition )

St. Clare of Assisi is the Co-foundress of the Order of Poor Ladies, or Clares, and first Abbess of San Damiano. Clare was born at Assisi on the 16th of July, 1194 and died there on the 11th of August, 1253.

She was the eldest daughter of Favorino Scifi, Count of Sasso-Rosso, the wealthy representative of an ancient Roman family, who owned a large palace in Assisi and a castle on the slope of Mount Subasio. Such at least is the traditional account. Her mother, Bl. Ortolana, belonged to the noble family of Fiumi and was conspicuous for her zeal and piety.

From her earliest years Clare seems to have been endowed with the rarest virtues. As a child she was most devoted to prayer and to practices of mortification, and as she passed into girlhood her distaste for the world and her yearning for a more spiritual life increased. She was eighteen years of age when St. Francis came to preach the Lenten course in the church of San Giorgio at Assisi. The inspired words of the Poverello kindled a flame in the heart of Clare; she sought him out secretly and begged him to help her that she too might live "after the manner of the holy Gospel." St. Francis, who at once recognized in Clare one of those chosen souls destined by God for great things, and who also, doubtless, foresaw that many would follow her example, promised to assist her. On Palm Sunday Clare, arrayed in all her finery, attended high Mass at the cathedral, but when the others pressed forward to the altar-rail to receive a branch of palm, she remained in her place as if rapt in a dream. All eyes were upon the young girl as the bishop descended from the sanctuary and placed the palm in her hand. That was the last time the world beheld Clare. On the night of the same day she secretly left her father's house, by St. Francis's advice and, accompanied by her aunt Bianca and another companion, proceeded to the humble chapel of the Porziuncula, where St. Francis and his disciples met her with lights in their hands. Clare then laid aside her rich dress, and St. Francis, having cut off her hair, clothed her in a rough tunic and a thick veil, and in this way the young heroine vowed herself to the service of Jesus Christ. This was 20 March, 1212.

Clare was placed by St. Francis provisionally with the Benedictine nuns of San Paolo, near Bastia, but her father, who had expected her to make a splendid marriage, and who was furious at her secret flight, on discovering her retreat, did his utmost to dissuade Clare from her heroic proposals, and even tried to drag her home by force. But Clare held her own with a firmness above her years, and Count Favorino was finally obliged to leave her in peace. A few days later St. Francis, in order to secure Clare the greater solitude she desired, transferred her to Sant' Angelo in Panzo, another monastery of the Benedictine nuns on one of the flanks of Subasio. Here some sixteen days after her own flight, Clare was joined by her younger sister Agnes, whom she was instrumental in delivering from the persecution of their infuriated relatives. Clare and her sister remained with the nuns at Sant' Angelo until they and the other fugitives from the world who had followed them were established by St. Francis in a rude dwelling adjoining the poor chapel of San Damiano, situated outside the town which he had to a great extent rebuilt with his own hands, and which he now obtained from the Benedictines as a permanent abode for his spiritual daughters. Thus was founded the first community of the Order of Poor Ladies, or of Poor Clares, as this second order of St. Francis came to be called.

The history of the Poor Clares will be dealt with in a separate article. Here it suffices to note that we may distinguish, during the lifetime of St. Clare, three stages in the complicated early history of the new order.

In the beginning St. Clare and her companions had no written rule to follow beyond a very short formula vitae given them by St. Francis, and which may be found among his works. Some years later, apparently in 1219, during St. Francis's absence in the East, Cardinal Ugolino, then protector of the order, afterwards Gregory IX, drew up a written rule for the Clares at Monticelli, taking as a basis the Rule of St. Benedict, retaining the fundamental points of the latter and adding some special constitutions. This new rule, which, in effect if not in intention, took away from the Clares the Franciscan character of absolute poverty so dear to the heart of St. Francis and made them for all practical purposes a congregation of Benedictines, was approved by Honorius III (Bull, "Sacrosancta", 9 Dec., 1219). When Clare found that the new rule, though strict enough in other respects, allowed the holding of property in common, she courageously and successfully resisted the innovations of Ugolino as being entirely opposed to the intentions of St. Francis. The latter had forbidden the Poor Ladies, just as he had forbidden his friars to possess any worldly goods even in common. Owning nothing, they were to depend entirety upon what the Friars Minor could beg for them. This complete renunciation of all property was however regarded by Ugolino as unpractical for cloistered women. When, therefore, in 1228, he came to Assisi for the canonization of St. Francis (having meanwhile ascended the pontifical throne as Gregory IX), he visited St. Clare at San Damiano and pressed her to so far deviate from the practice of poverty which had up to this time obtained at San Damiano, as to accept some provision for the unforeseen wants of the community. But Clare firmly refused. Gregory, thinking that her refusal might be due to fear of violating the vow of strict poverty she had taken, offered to absolve her from it. "Holy Father, I crave for absolution from my sins", replied Clare, "but I desire not to be absolved from the obligation of following Jesus Christ".

The heroic unworldliness of Clare filled the pope with admiration, as his letters to her, still extant, bear eloquent witness, and he so far gave way to her views as to grant her on 17 September, 1228, the celebrated Privilegium Paupertatis which some regard in the light of a corrective of the Rule of 1219. The original autograph copy of this unique "privilege"--the first one of its kind ever sought for, or ever issued by the Holy See--is preserved in the archive at Santa Chiara in Assisi. The text is as follows:

• Gregory Bishop Servant of the Servants of God. To our beloved daughters in Christ Clare and the other handmaids of Christ dwelling together at the Church of San Damiano in the Diocese of Assisi. Health and Apostolic benediction. It is evident that the desire of consecrating yourselves to God alone has led you to abandon every wish for temporal things. Wherefore, after having sold all your goods and having distributed them among the poor, you propose to have absolutely no possessions, in order to follow in all things the example of Him Who became poor and Who is the way, the truth, and the life. Neither does the want of necessary things deter you from such a proposal, for the left arm of your Celestial Spouse is beneath your head to sustain the infirmity of your body, which, according to the order of charity, you have subjected to the law of the spirit. Finally, He who feeds the birds of the air and who gives the lilies of the field their raiment and their nourishment, will not leave you in want of clothing or of food until He shall come Himself to minister to you in eternity when, namely, the right hand of His consolations shall embrace you in the plenitude of the Beatific Vision. Since, therefore, you have asked for it, we confirm by Apostolic favour your resolution of the loftiest poverty and by the authority of these present letters grant that you may not be constrained by anyone to receive possessions. To no one, therefore, be it allowed to infringe upon this page of our concession or to oppose it with rash temerity. But if anyone shall presume to attempt this, be it known to him that he shall incur the wrath of Almighty God and his Blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul. Given at Perugia on the fifteenth of the Kalends of October in the second year of our Pontificate."

That St. Clare may have solicited a "privilege" similar to the foregoing at an earlier date and obtained it vivâ voce, is not improbable. Certain it is that after the death of Gregory IX Clare had once more to contend for the principle of absolute poverty prescribed by St. Francis, for Innocent IV would fain have given the Clares a new and mitigated rule, and the firmness with which she held to her way won over the pope. Finally, two days before her death, Innocent, no doubt at the reiterated request of the dying abbess, solemnly confirmed the definitive Rule of the Clares (Bull, "Solet Annuere", 9 August, 1253), and thus secured to them the precious treasure of poverty which Clare, in imitation of St. Francis, had taken for her portion from the beginning of her conversion. The author of this latter rule, which is largely an adaptation mutatis mutandis, of the rule which St. Francis composed for the Friars Minor in 1223, seems to have been Cardinal Rainaldo, Bishop of Ostia, and protector of the order, afterwards Alexander IV, though it is most likely that St. Clare herself had a hand in its compilation. Be this as it may, it can no longer be maintained that St. Francis was in any sense the author of this formal Rule of the Clares; he only gave to St. Clare and her companions at the outset of their religious life the brief formula vivendi already mentioned.

St. Clare, who in 1215 had, much against her will been made superior at San Damiano by St. Francis, continued to rule there as abbess until her death, in 1253, nearly forty years later. There is no good reason to believe that she ever once went beyond the boundaries of San Damiano during all that time. It need not, therefore, be wondered at if so comparatively few details of St. Clare's life in the cloister "hidden with Christ in God", have come down to us. We know that she became a living copy of the poverty, the humility, and the mortification of St. Francis; that she had a special devotion to the Holy Eucharist, and that in order to increase her love for Christ crucified she learned by heart the Office of the Passion composed by St. Francis, and that during the time that remained to her after her devotional exercises she engaged in manual labour. Needless to add, that under St. Clare's guidance the community of San Damiano became the sanctuary of every virtue, a very nursery of saints. Clare had the consolation not only of seeing her younger sister Beatrix, her mother Ortolana, and her faithful aunt Bianca follow Agnes into the order, but also of witnessing the foundation of monasteries of Clares far and wide throughout Europe. It would be difficult, moreover, to estimate how much the silent influence of the gentle abbess did towards guiding the women of medieval Italy to higher aims. In particular, Clare threw around poverty that irresistible charm which only women can communicate to religious or civic heroism, and she became a most efficacious coadjutrix of St. Francis in promoting that spirit of unworldliness which in the counsels of God, "was to bring about a restoration of discipline in the Church and of morals and civilization in the peoples of Western Europe". Not the least important part of Clare's work was the aid and encouragement she gave St. Francis. It was to her he turned when in doubt, and it was she who urged him to continue his mission to the people at a time when he thought his vocation lay rather in a life of contemplation. When in an attack of blindness and illness, St. Francis came for the last time to visit San Damiano, Clare erected a little wattle hut for him in an olive grove close to the monastery, and it was here that he composed his glorious "Canticle of the Sun". After St. Francis's death the procession which accompanied his remains from the Porziuncula to the town stopped on the way at San Damiano in order that Clare and her daughters might venerate the pierced hands and feet of him who had formed them to the love of Christ crucified--a pathetic scene which Giotto has commemorated in one of his loveliest frescoes. So far, however, as Clare was concerned, St. Francis was always living, and nothing is, perhaps, more striking in her after-life than her unswerving loyalty to the ideals of the Poverello, and the jealous care with which she clung to his rule and teaching.

When, in 1234, the army of Frederick II was devastating the valley of Spoleto, the soldiers, preparatory to an assault upon Assisi, scaled the walls of San Damiano by night, spreading terror among the community. Clare, calmly rising from her sick bed, and taking the ciborium from the little chapel adjoining her cell, proceeded to face the invaders at an open window against which they had already placed a ladder. It is related that, as she raised the Blessed Sacrament on high, the soldiers who were about to enter the monastery fell backward as if dazzled, and the others who were ready to follow them took flight. It is with reference to this incident that St. Clare is generally represented in art bearing a ciborium.

When, some time later, a larger force returned to storm Assisi, headed by the General Vitale di Aversa who had not been present at the first attack, Clare, gathering her daughters about her, knelt with them in earnest prayer that the town might be spared. Presently a furious storm arose, scattering the tents of the soldiers in every direction, and causing such a panic that they again took refuge in flight. The gratitude of the Assisians, who with one accord attributed their deliverance to Clare's intercession, increased their love for the "Seraphic Mother". Clare had long been enshrined in the hearts of the people, and their veneration became more apparent as, wasted by illness and austerities, she drew towards her end. Brave and cheerful to the last, in spite of her long and painful infirmities, Clare caused herself to be raised in bed and, thus reclining, says her contemporary biographer "she spun the finest thread for the purpose of having it woven into the most delicate material from which she afterwards made more than one hundred corporals, and, enclosing them in a silken burse, ordered them to be given to the churches in the plain and on the mountains of Assisi". When at length she felt the day of her death approaching, Clare, calling her sorrowing religious around her, reminded them of the many benefits they had received from God and exhorted them to persevere faithfully in the observance of evangelical poverty. Pope Innocent IV came from Perugia to visit the dying saint, who had already received the last sacraments from the hands of Cardinal Rainaldo. Her own sister, St. Agnes, had returned from Florence to console Clare in her last illness; Leo, Angelo, and Juniper, three of the early companions of St. Francis, were also present at the saint's death-bed, and at St. Clare's request read aloud the Passion of Our Lord according to St. John, even as they had done twenty-seven years before, when Francis lay dying at the Porziuncula. At length before dawn on 11 August, 1253, the holy foundress of the Poor Ladies passed peacefully away amid scenes which her contemporary biographer has recorded with touching simplicity. The pope, with his court, came to San Damiano for the saint's funeral, which partook rather of the nature of a triumphal procession.

The Clares desired to retain the body of their foundress among them at San Damiano, but the magistrates of Assisi interfered and took measures to secure for the town the venerated remains of her whose prayers, as they all believed, had on two occasions saved it from destruction. Clare's miracles too were talked of far and wide. It was not safe, the Assisians urged, to leave Clare's body in a lonely spot without the walls; it was only right, too, that Clare, "the chief rival of the Blessed Francis in the observance of Gospel perfection", should also have a church in Assisi built in her honour. Meanwhile, Clare's remains were placed in the chapel of San Giorgio, where St. Francis's preaching had first touched her young heart, and where his own body had likewise been interred pending the erection of the Basilica of San Francesco. Two years later, 26 September, 1255, Clare was solemnly canonized by Alexander IV, and not long afterwards the building of the church of Santa Chiara, in honour of Assisi's second great saint, was begun under the direction of Filippo Campello, one of the foremost architects of the time. On 3 October, 1260, Clare's remains were transferred from the chapel of San Giorgio and buried deep down in the earth, under the high altar in the new church, far out of sight and reach. After having remained hidden for six centuries--like the remains of St. Francis--and after much search had been made, Clare's tomb was found in 1850, to the great joy of the Assisians. On 23 September in that year the coffin was unearthed and opened, the flesh and clothing of the saint had been reduced to dust, but the skeleton was in a perfect state of preservation. Finally, on the 29th of September, 1872, the saint's bones were transferred, with much pomp, by Archbishop Pecci, afterwards Leo XIII, to the shrine, in the crypt at Santa Chiara, erected to receive them, and where they may now be seen. The feast of St. Clare is celebrated throughout the Church on 12 August; the feast of her first translation is kept in the order on 3 October, and that of the finding of her body on 23 September. 

From Saints Alive:

Clare was born in Assisi in the late twelfth century. When she was eighteen, she was so moved by a sermon given by St. Francis that she abandoned her wealthy family and fled to him. Francis stripped her of her finery and cut her hair. Her outraged father sent thugs to drag her back, but she prevailed. She founded the Poor Clares, an order of women with a doctrine similar to the Franciscans, who were known for their strict austerities: no meat, shoes or beds—but always a hair-shirt. Clare was the last person to see Francis alive, washing his feet on his deathbed. She called herself his "little plant.” In 1958 Pope Pius XII, realizing the power of television, made Clare its patron saint because of a vision she'd had in bed one Christmas Eve: she witnessed Mass and the manger scene (which, incidentally, was initially conceived by Francis as P. R. for the church). Clare is also the patron of embroiderers; and she's invoked against sore eyes. Her feast day is August 11.

Permalink: http://www.zenit.org/article-21810?l=english

Cardinal: St. Clare Can Guide TV Watchers

ASSISI, Italy, FEB. 18, 2008 (Zenit.org).- St. Clare, as patron of television, can help the modern world rediscover the dignity of the human person, says the Pope's secretary of state.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone affirmed this when he presided Sunday over a Mass in Assisi marking the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of St. Clare as patron of television.

She was given this title by Pope Pius XII on Feb. 14, 1958. On Christmas night, 1252, the nun received the grace of seeing from her cell the Church's celebration of Christ's birth.

Cardinal Bertone dubbed it "an experience of mystical television," Vatican Radio reported.

"St. Clare is not only the patron of television, but she can also teach us the correct use of this media," the cardinal said.

Citing Benedict XVI's message for World Communications Day, Cardinal Bertone warned about the possibility of communications media manipulating reality, catering to particular interests and seeking an audience at all costs.

"Mass media tend to impose a uniform cultural model, based on the logic of consumerism and relativism," he lamented. "The example of St. Clare, on the other hand, helps us to rediscover the dignity of the person and values such as family, life, education and youth."

Words of a Saint:

For Christ is the splendor of eternal glory, the brightness of eternal light, and the mirror without cloud.
 
Queen and bride of Jesus Christ, look into that mirror daily and study well your reflection, that you may adorn yourself, mind and body, with an enveloping garment of every virtue, and thus find yourself attired in flowers and gowns befitting the daughter and most chaste bride of king on high. In this mirror blessed poverty, holy humility, and ineffable love are also reflected. With the grace of God the whole mirror will be your source of contemplation.
 
Behold, I say, the birth of this mirror. Behold Christ’s poverty even as he was laid in the manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes. What wondrous humility, what marvelous poverty! The King of angels, the Lord of heaven and earth resting in a manger! Look more deeply into the mirror and meditate on his humility, or simply on his poverty. Behold the many labors and sufferings he endured to redeem the human race. Then, in the depths of this very mirror, ponder his unspeakable love which caused him to suffer on the wood of the cross and to endure the most shameful kind of death. The mirror himself, from his position on the cross, warned passers-by to weigh carefully this act, as he said: All of you who pass by this way, behold and see if there is any sorrow like mine. Let us answer his cries and lamentations with one voice and one spirit: I will be mindful and remember, and my soul will be consumed within me.

From a letter to Blessed Agnes of Prague by Saint Clare
(Office of Readings, August 11:
Clare, Virgin)

Proposed Patron Saint of Internet Users

(c.560 - 636)

A Prayer before Logging onto the Internet and the Catholic Online Forum

Almighty and eternal God,
who created us in Thy image and bade us to seek after all that is good,
true and beautiful,
especially in the divine person of Thy only-begotten Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ,
grant we beseech Thee that,
through the intercession of Saint Isidore,
bishop and doctor,
during our journeys through the internet we will direct our hands and eyes only to that which is pleasing to Thee
and treat with charity and patience all those souls whom we encounter.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen