St. Clare

It's St. Clare's feast day today; here is a picture of her from a manuscript of Bishop Ugolino, a reluctant but eventual full supporter of Francis' and Clare's cause for the Poor Ladies of San Damiano/Poor Clares to be a truly mendicant order. Once convinced, the then Pope Gregory IX issued a privilegium paupertatis two years after Francis' death for the fledgling order and wrote these beautiful words: '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.'