Saturday, August 11, 2007

Feast Day of St. Clare Of Assisi



Image of St. Clare and St. Francis, her mentor, in the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, from Christus Rex.

Padre Mickey has a beautiful post on St. Clare of Assisi.

The Order of the Poor Clares, a contemplative and mendicant order, had a convent in New Orleans. I remember them going from door to door begging, as I was growing up.

UPDATE: I just now got around to reading from the Lectionary for the feast day, and I could not resist adding these beautiful words from the "Songs of Songs":

Song 2:10-13

My beloved speaks and says to me:
‘Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away;
for now the winter is past,
the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtle-dove
is heard in our land.
The fig tree puts forth its figs,
and the vines are in blossom;
they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away.

6 comments:

  1. Grandmere,
    There is still a monastery in New Orleans - on Henry Clay and Magazine. I was blessed to be able to spend time there many years ago when I was considering becoming a postulant there. Their "lay sister" did indeed beg. Vatican II led to many, many changes, including those that allowed me to "try it out" inside the cloister to see what it was like. They are an amazing group of women, several of whom I still consider friends after all these years. Serious prayer warriors, whose vocations we seem to be even more desperately in need of today than ever. Thanks for a post that brought back a lot of memories.

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  2. LTL, welcome and thanks for that information. I have not lived in New Orleans for over 40 years, although I live nearby and get to visit often.

    I didn't think to check first to see if the convent was still there.

    My grandmother was generous with her gifts when they came round. Back in the day, all nuns had to travel in pairs.

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  3. Grandmere,
    I've been gone myself for about 34 years, but grew up there and in Slidell and still have family in the area. In many ways it will always be home - there's just that feeling when one returns to visit, and I haven't come up with a better word than "home" for it, although I have no desire to live there again. But it remains in one's blood and heart, I guess.

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  4. LTL, you put it well. It's the home of my heart, and it always will be.

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  5. Clare is also the patroness of television. I got to wondering about that last year.

    From my saints blog:

    ...what I really wanted to know about Clare is how she became the patroness of television. The story goes, according to The Patron Saints Index, that towards the end of her life Clare was not able to go to mass. Not to worry! The mass appeared on the wall of her cell. Like television. And you thought flat screens were a modern invention.

    In this age of multi-million dollar media rooms it's odd to associate the Poor Clares with TV. But, there you have it.

    Cool blog Grandmere!

    Lindy

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  6. Linda, what a great story about St. Clare!

    Welcome, and thanks for the kind words.

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