{"id":"st-clare-assisi","name":"St. Clare of Assisi","title":"Co-Founder of the Poor Clares","knownFor":"Mirror of Franciscan Poverty","feastDay":"August 11","lifespan":"1194-1253","patronOf":"Television, Eye Disease, Goldsmiths, Laundry","shortBio":"Italian noblewoman who founded the Order of Poor Clares under St. Francis's guidance. First woman to write a religious rule approved by the Pope, she defended radical poverty and is patron of television for her miraculous vision.","fullBio":"Born Chiara Offreduccio to a wealthy noble family in Assisi, Clare was known from childhood for her piety and charity. At 18, inspired by St. Francis's preaching, she secretly left her family on Palm Sunday 1212 to join his movement.\n\nAt the Portiuncula, Francis cut her hair and clothed her in rough habit. Her family tried forcefully to retrieve her, but she clung to the altar, revealing her shorn head. Francis placed her at San Damiano, where she was soon joined by her sister Agnes and other women.\n\nClare became abbess of what would become the Order of Saint Clare (Poor Clares). She insisted on absolute poverty, obtaining the \"Privilege of Poverty\" from Pope Innocent III - the right to own nothing. Her community lived in radical austerity: barefoot, sleeping on the ground, eating no meat, maintaining near-total silence.\n\nIn 1240, when Saracen mercenaries threatened the convent, the bedridden Clare had the Blessed Sacrament brought to the gates. She prayed and heard a voice promising protection; the soldiers fled in fear. This miracle explains her portrayal with a monstrance.\n\nClare was ill for 27 years but remained joyful. On Christmas Eve 1252, too sick to attend Mass, she miraculously saw and heard the entire liturgy on her cell wall - making her patron of television. She wrote the first religious rule by a woman, approved just before her death on August 11, 1253.","miracles":["Repelled Saracen invaders with the Blessed Sacrament","Miraculously saw and heard Mass from her sickbed (patron of television)","Multiplied food for her sisters during famine","Healed the sick with the sign of the cross","Oil in the monastery lamps miraculously replenished","Protected Assisi from attack through her prayers"],"imageUrl":"https://page.gensparksite.com/v1/base64_upload/f734681ff2408e75f325e2030619aeb7","imageAttribution":"Saint Clare Repulsing the Saracens from Assisi by José de Alcíbar (c. 1780). Museo Nacional de Arte (MUNAL), Mexico City. Oil on canvas","orderByDate":1253}