The Night St. Clare Left her Paternal home, Palm Sunday 1212

To read the beautiful story of St. Clare and the Palm Sunday of 1212, go to this link:  http://i-tau.com/franstudies/articles/St_Clare_Palm_Sunday.pdf

I couldn't post the test here from this link so I am posting it.  Palm Sunday was the "launching", I guess you could say, of St. Clare's giving up all to follow Christ.

For any who can't read the 8 pages that the above link is comprise of, here is a short version:

On Palm Sunday, March 17, 1212, the Bishop of Assisi left the altar to present a palm to a noble maiden, eighteen years of age, whom bashfulness had detained in her place. This maiden was St. Clare. Already she had learnt from St. Francis to hate the world, and was secretly resolved to live for God alone. The same night she escaped, with one companion, to the Church of the Portiuncula, where she was met by St. Francis and his brethren. At the altar of Our Lady, St. Francis cut off her hair, clothed her in his habit of penance, a piece of sack-cloth, with his cord as a girdle. Thus she was espoused to Christ. In a miserable house outside Assisi she founded her Order, and was joined by her sister, fourteen years of age, and afterwards by her mother and other noble ladies. They went barefoot, observed perpetual abstinence, constant silence, and perfect poverty. While the Saracen army of Frederick II. was ravaging the valley of Spoleto, a body of infidels advanced to assault St. Clare's convent, which stood outside Assisi. The Saint caused the Blessed Sacrament to be placed in a monstrance, above the gate of the monastery facing the enemy, and kneeling before it, prayed, "Deliver not to beasts, O Lord, the souls of those who confess to Thee." A voice from the Host replied, "My protection will never fail you." A sudden panic seized the infidel host, which took to flight, and the Saint's convent was spared. During her illness of twenty-eight years the Holy Eucharist was her only support and spinning linen for the altar the one work of her hands. She died in 1253, as the Passion was being read, and Our Lady and the angels conducted her to glory.

Christ Suffering

 

Oh! Sacred Feet, all gashed and torn,
   Bruised by the hammer's cruel blows,
Bathed in the life-blood dripping down
   From anguished Heart in bitter throes;
I press You to my lips in tears,
   With contrite sorrow, fervent sigh.
Dear precious Wounds, God's bleeding prayers,
   Ah! plead for me when death draws nigh.

Oh, Mangled Hands, transfixed and wan,
   in suppliance raised to Heaven above,
Pierced by the nails that torture wrung,
   From breaking Heart of burning love;
I press You to my lips in tears,
   With contrite sorrow, fervent sigh.
Dear precious Wounds, God's bleeding prayers,
   Ah! plead for me when death draws nigh.

Oh! Sacred Refuge, tender Side,
   Rent by the lance with cruel thrust,
There, where His Heart is, let me hide,
   There, where His love is, let me trust.
I press Thee to my lips in tears,
   With contrite sorrow, fervent sigh.
Most Holy Wound, allay my fears,
   Recieve my soul when death draws nigh.¹

 

^{1"Prayer to the Five Wounds," The Little Treasury of Leaflets, vol.IV (Dublin: Gill, 1914) 893-894.} 

Celebrate St Clare with Investiture of Sister Angelique

"On March 18th of this 2012, the Poor Clare Order celebrated the 8th Centenary of the investiture of St. Clare . At our monastery, we were able to celebrate in the best possible way: by having an investiture ceremony ourselves! Postulant Joscelyn Voight followed in the footsteps of our Mother St. Clare and became Sister Mary Angelique of the Infant Jesus. This video shows the simple, yet dramatic and symbolic transformation of a Poor Clare postulant into a white veiled novice. For more information, please visit our website at www.poor-clares.org - Poor Clare Colettines of Barhamsville, VA."

Today is the Feast of St. Agnes of Prague 1211-1282

Agnes was the daughter of Premislaus, King of Bohemia,was born in Prague about the year 1205.  She declined an imperial marriage and in 1236 entered the monastery of the Poor Clares that she had founded and which she directed for many years.  She enjoyed a close friendship with St. Clare who wrote several letters to her dealing with Franciscan spirituality.  Agnes died between the years 1280-1283. - (from Proper Offices of Franciscan Saints and Blesseds in the Liturgy of the Hours)

(For my previous posts to read St. Clare's four letters to Agnes, see:  first letter http://littleplantofstfrancis.blogspot.com/2012/07/writngs-of-st-clare-first-letter-to-bl.html, second letter http://littleplantofstfrancis.blogspot.com/2012/07/writings-of-st-clare-2nd-letter-to-bl.html, third letter http://littleplantofstfrancis.blogspot.com/2012/07/writings-of-st-clare-3rd-letter-to-bl.html and fourth letter http://littleplantofstfrancis.blogspot.com/2012/07/writings-of-st-clare-4th-letter-to-bl.html)

On the eve of the feast of the holy virgin and martyr Agnes, in the year 1205, a daughter was born to the king of Bohemia, Primislaus Ottokar I. St Agnes of Prague, she also received the name Agnes in baptism. Her mother, who was an aunt of St Elizabeth of Hungary, rejoiced when she noticed an admirable seriousness in her infant. At times she saw how St Agnes of Prague folded her little hands in the form of a cross, and then, as if absorbed in deep devotion, would lie quite still.

According to the custom of the time, the king's daughter was betrothed at the age of three years to the son of the duke of Silesia, and hence was sent to the Silesain convent at Trebnitz, where St Hedwig was superior at that time, to be educated there. Her betrothed died after three years, and St Agnes of Prague was then taken to the convent at Doxan in Bohemia, where the seeds of sanctity which had been sown by St Hedwig budded forth in marvelous bloom. The child appeared to be destined for the heavenly Spouse rather than for an earthly one; but earthly monarchs renewed their suit for her hand.

Emperor Frederick II desired to secure St Agnes of Prague as the bride of his son and successor to the throne, Henry, and Agnes, who was now a mature young woman, was sent to the court of the German emperor. But when the union with Henry came to naught as the result of the prayers of the virgin, King Henry III of England sought her hand in marriage, and finally, even Emperor Frederick II himself, whose consort had meanwhile died. All the opposition raised by St Agnes of Prague, who desired to belong entirely to the Divine Bridegroom, seemed in vain. Then she begged Pope Gregory IX to intervene, and as a result she obtained her freedom. The emperor declared himself satisfied since Agnes chose not a human being but the God of heaven in preference to him.

Now, however, Agnes strove to embrace the religious state in order to achieve her union with the Divine Bridegroom. The fame of Poor Clare convents had reached Bohemia, and Agnes resolved, with the assistance of her brother, who had meanwhile ascended the royal throne, to establish a convent of Poor Clares in the capital city of Prague. Pope Gregory cheerfully gave his consent, and, at his command, St. Clare sent five sisters from the convent of St. Damian in Assisi, to Prague. Agnes and seven other young women of the highest ranks of society entered the new convent together with these sisters.

Within a short time Agnes distinguished herself among them as a model of virtue; in fervor at prayer, in obedience, in religious discipline, in self-denial, and in humility. The command of the pope to accept the position of abbess was a great trial for her humility; however, she obtained permission not to carry the title, but rather to be known as the "senior sister." Holy zeal, similar to that of her holy mother St. Clare, characterized her vigilance regarding the observance of holy poverty; she declined the royal gifts sent to her by her brother, and would not tolerate that any sister possess anything of a personal nature.
God blessed her with the gift of miracles; she recalled to life the deceased daughter of her brother.

Enriched with heavenly merits, she departed from this life in the odor of sanctity, to enter into eternal union with her Divine Bridegroom, on March 6, 1282, having served Him for forty years in the religious state. Devotion to her, which has existed since time immemorial, received apostolic sanction from Pope Pius IX, and her feast, which has long been celebrated in Prague on March 2nd, has been extended to the entire Franciscan Order.

*from: The Franciscan Book of Saints, ed. by Marion Habig, ofm.

Wonderful Interview with Poor Clare Colettine Mother Abbess

Wonderful interview with Mother Colette, Abbess of the Poor Clare Colettines in Galway, Ireland (above).

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/83030847/Sacred%20Space%20-%2023%20September%202012.mp3

Videos of Mother Colette:

Poor Clares, Galway: Mother Colette speaking about Eucharistic Adoration 

 This video is a great 10 minutes or so and is a vocational one on their life there.  I love this video!

http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=DLYPWLNX 

 

Prayer for St. Franics' Stigmata

Father God, what a gift You gave us in the person of St. Francis of Assisi! He renewed, in the hearts of many who lived in the past and even for people today, the freshness, the beauty and goodness of the Gospel. He did this not with wise and profound words, great and subtle thoughts or a voice melodious, pleasant to the ear. He did this with a life totally dedicated to You and to the fulfillment of Your will. He did this by walking faithfully (nearly perfectly!) in the footsteps of Your Son, Jesus Christ. He did this by embracing Your love with His whole being and by sharing that same love with the world. Give me strength, Your own goodness, that I might prove as faithful in following Jesus, my Lord, and in pleasing You in all I do and say, think and feel. Amen.

(from "Michael Sanchez", a Facebook page)

Message on Lenten Practices