Letter and Spirit, Chapter 1

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1________________________________________________________________________

FORM OF LIFE OF THE POOR

SISTERS FOUNDED BY

ST. FRANCIS

The Constitutions Actualize The Rule

Poor Sisters

Evangelical Calling

Living in Obedience Without Ownership

and in Chastity

Obedience and Reverence to the Pope and

the Roman Church

Obedience to St. Francis and his successors

Obedience to Sister Clare and her successors


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CHAPTER I, 1-5

1The form of life of the Order of the Poor Sisters that

Blessed Francis established is this: to observe the holy

Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, 2by living in obedience,

without anything of ones own, and in chastity. 3Clare,

the unworthy servant of Christ and the little plant of the

most Blessed Francis, promises obedience and reverence

to the Lord Pope Innocent and his canonically elected

successors, and to the Roman Church. 4 And as the

beginning of her conversion she, together with her sisters,

promised obedience to Blessed Francis, so now she

promises his successors to observe the same obedience

inviolably, 5 and the other sisters shall always be obliged

to obey the successors of Blessed Francis and Sister Clareand the other canonically elected Abbesses who succeed

her.

Clare loved calling herself St. Francis little plant.

First of all, she wants to make it clear that the Order of thePoor Sisters was the direct foundation of the Seraphic

Father: St. Francis established it. By so doing, she does

not only intend to decline the honor of proclaiming herself

the Foundress, but to firmly set herself on what was her

own style all through her life. Through a lot of different

vicissitudes born from the very highness of the embraced

ideal, and bound to accept three different Rules insuccession, Clare heroically stood her ground of professed

Gospel life, especially regarding poverty, confronting even

the Holy See, quite challenging for Clare who was ever

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submissive, like no one else, to the Pope. She ever invoked

St. Francis will.

When close to her death, she finally succeeds inbequeathing her daughters a Rule of their own, she does not

feel entitled to write a new Rule for them. Rather, she took

up the very same one Francis had written for his Lesser

Brothers with the necessary adaptations to the life of a

cloistered female community.

This offers us an important criterion for the spiritual

interpretation of the text. Each time we should want to

state precisely the contents and meaning of a sentence, we

will have to confront it to its parallel one of the First

Orders Rule by reading it in agreement with St. Francis

doctrine and also with St. Clares mind since she shows

through all her writings to have so deeply assimilated every

shade of the Poverellos ideal.

Rule and Life was the name adopted by Francis.

Form of Life was called the first sketch of norms givenby the saint to the St. Damian community and that is the

one Clare kept for her Rule and was recognized by

Innocent IV in the bull of approbation. What really matters

to both Francis and Clare is life. Prescriptions ought

always to be at the service of life, an ideal found and

conquered by living up to it, not to envelope it in a

legislative setting to stifle its freedom of movement, but tochannel and enhance its growth.

The Constitutions actualize the Rule

St. Clares Rule is, even today, for all the PoorSisters, the fundamental law and the canonical basis of

their profession, as well as the irreplaceable expression of

the evangelical Franciscan-Clarean ideal. Next to the Rule,

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and under it, the Constitutions too make up their basic

code. Their objective is to help in a better authentic

observation of the Rule by offering an efficacious and up-to-date guide to their efforts of renewal and adaptation to

other times and places. They also guarantee faithfulness to

the Rule even in diversity of climates and cultures, a

witness to the universality and unity throughout the

monasteries spread over the whole world, so that in the

words of Gregory IX the oneness of life and harmony of

customs may join and bring together the bond of charity the

sisters kept by distances of places.1

Where the letter of the Rule has ceased being actual,

the Constitutions translate into a new one legally approved

the spirit that remains permanently valid. So, then all the

elements of the Rule should be understood according to the

mind of St. Francis and St. Clare, as interpreted by the

Church and exposed and declared by the same

Constitutions.This is how the relationship between the Constitutions

and the Rule appears in todays legislation as approved by

the Holy See (Gen. Const. Art 13-16; CC Chap. 5, 221,

226). Bringing the Rule up-to-date does not only mean

substituting whatever may have become outdated in it, but

also fitting up its contents and enriching it with the Orders

secular experience and the directives of the Churchregarding consecrated life and the contemplative vocation.

No wonder then, that many items may be found in the Rule

unforeseen by St. Clare.

The Poor Sisters

Francis had given the St. Damians group the name

of Poor Ladies, inspired by his knightly spirit and the

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faith with which he referred to them as the daughters and

servants of the Most High King, the heavenly Father, who

has taken the Holy Spirit as your Spouse (Form of Life).He used to greet them as my ladies. But it seemed more

natural to Clare applying to her community the idea of

fraternity, so basic to the Franciscan ideal; so she adopts

the name Poor Sisters. Poverty and fraternity are actually

in her writings, the two inseparable elements of the one and

same calling: to keep the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus

Christ.

The Saint does not use either in her Rule nor in her

Testament the term nuns moniales which was theusual one then. Francis had rejected too the term monks,

substituting it with Brothers.

After the Foundress death, the name Clares spread

out steadily and, by the time of St. Bonaventure, they were

currently called Sisters of St. Clare Ever since Urbans

IV Rule, the official denomination became Order of St.Clare.

St. Francis had avoided the name of Poor Minors for

his newly born Order, as he feared that such a name could

give room to an unwanted affinity with the Lyons Poor

and other pauper-like movements, making poverty the

standard for social defiance. He rather opted for the term

Minor Brothers. Nevertheless, he had no problem aboutClare and her sisters being called Poor Ladies or Poor

Sisters although he was seemingly opposed to calling

them Minor Sisters, wary perhaps of arising confusion

among the people.2 The Rule of Urban IV called Sororesinclusae Reclused Sisters all the Damianites. Thereformer St. Colette, returning to St. Clares Rule, used the

original name Poor Sisters. At the reform of theCapuchinesses, the adjective poor was often preceded,

and it is common today to give St. Clares followers, in the

English speaking countries, the name Poor Clares.

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St. Clare avoids on purpose the term nuns common

to the female communities at that time. She has no

objection however, to using the term monastery for lackof a more fitting one, when referring to the dwelling where

her contemplative community lives, even if the St. Damian

abode does not look at all like a Benedictine abbey. The

canon law includes all the cloistered sisters under the

common denominator of nuns. This is the reason why it

has been kept at the title of the Capuchin Constitutions

approved by the Holy See.

In 1215, the Saint saw herself being forced to accept

the title Abbess after St. Benedicts Rule with the

corresponding title of Madonna, which we know the

outsiders gave her. By the juridical character of the

document, she had to keep that title. In her Testament

however, she avoided it intentionally and, in reference to

herself, she insisted on calling herself the unworthy

servant of Christ and the Poor Sisters.In todays renewal atmosphere, many communities

want to return, even by name , to the Holy Mothers spirit

and adopt that which conveys the Franciscan trait of

simplicity and humility. Obviously, the key of the matter is

not using one or another term but it is essential that each

and every Poor Clare group be a true evangelical

community, where poverty is joyfully lived out and charityis the supreme law.

Evangelical Calling

Francis wrote in his Testament: The Most HighHimself revealed to me that I should live according to the

pattern of the Holy Gospel. Truly, the Gospel points out

the guideline of every Christian. It is also true that the

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ultimate religious norm is that of following Christ

according to the teaching of the Gospel.3

But to Francis and Clare, the Gospel is not only a normof preferential option to illumine our moral or ethical

choices. It is, in fact, a concrete, immediate programme

committing us to follow the teachings and footprints of

our Lord Jesus Christ4 and finds its highest expression in

the passage of the apostles mission (Lc10, 1-10). This is

the page that definitely shone on Francis calling and cause

him to feel as Founder.

The Rule opens up with this statement: The form oflife of the Poor Sisters Order is this: to keep the HolyGospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and closes down with thisone: so that we may observe the Holy Gospel that wehave firmly promised. Then, whoever professes St.

Clares Rule must feel obliged more than anybody else to

ever confront her criteria, feelings and deeds with the very

life and teachings of Jesus.Todays Constitutions, when defining the Orders spirit

and mission, faithful to the Rule, state that the specific

nature of St. Clares daughters, and common to the entire

Franciscan family, is the life according to the Gospel.

The Gospel however, which has been meditated upon and

lived out by Francis and Clare, is first of all the person

himself of Jesus Christ, poor and crucified, and it is also histeachings, truly spirit and life. On the poor

contemplative sisters calling, the Gospel should become

life and personal experience, as it was for the seraphic

founders.

The experience of Jesus Christ, who lives in us likehope and glory (Col 1, 27) and is the source and apex of

the evangelical perfection, is realized for us who passthrough the world as pilgrims and strangers, in a formof holy unity and highest poverty through which,following in the footsteps of the same Jesus Christ andthose of his holy Mother, we have chosen to live an

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enclosed life with respect to the body, so as to dedicate

ourselves to the Lord with a free spirit. (R. Prof. 5, 3; Gen

CC, art. 3)

Therefore, a daughter of St. Clare is to make the

Gospel not only her way of life, but even more so the basis

of her contemplation and centre of reference.

Let us try then to feed ourselves continuously with thereading and meditation of the Gospel and, imitating Mary, let us keep in our hearts the facts and words of the Lord,which are spirit and life (Lk 2,19 & 51; Jn 6, 62),conforming our mind and our conduct to them (CCChap.2).

Living in Obedience, Without Propertyand in Chastity

This Gospel programme is integrated within the entire

ensemble of requirements and invitations Jesus addresses to

whoever would want to closely follow him, cooperating

with him to build up his kingdom. Its concrete expression

is, in consecrated life, what we have traditionally termed asevangelical counsels.

It is not just committing ourselves to keeping them by

avoiding sins against obedience, poverty and chastity, but

by living them out. Life in obedience is the constant

attitude of adherence to Gods saving will and of

availability to fraternal service in the mystery of Christs

redemptive obedience. Life in poverty causes one to be

identified through joyful detachment with the poverty and

humility of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the virtual

reality of anyone who may endure extreme poverty or

abandonment.5 Life in chastity is the permanent attention

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to maintaining ones heart free and undivided for divine

intimacy and self-donation to the brothers.

Obedience and Reverence to the Pope

and to the Roman Church

The same principle of faith that brought St. Francis to

submit his form of life to the scrutiny and approval of the

hierarchic Church, causes now Clare to look at her group asto a little flock that the Lord and Father begot in his Holy

Church by St. Francis word and example. (Test.)

The devoted and loving obedience to the Supreme

Pontiff is the guarantee of fidelity to evangelical life, as

required in the last chapter of the Rule, by charging the

sisters with the duty of ever requesting for a Cardinal as

their Protector.As it was with St. Francis, this simple and firm

obedience, if on one side gave her consolation of seeing

herself surrounded by the love and admiration of the

Apostolic See, on the other hand, it required of her an

uneasy position between the will to obey and the need of

defending the essential contents of the Poor Sisters

vocation.We shall return to this important aspect of the Saints

Church conscience in our comment to chapter XII.

Obedience to St. Francis and

his Successors

Clare repeats up to five times in her Rule and

Testament that she, together with her sisters promised

obedience to St. Francis. Such an insistence has no other

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purpose but to stress the bond to the Seraphic Father, to his

ideal and to his First Order. To the responsible ones of this

Order, who seemed to be unwilling to assume the guidanceof the sisters of the Second Order, the Saint exhibits the

firm commitment acquired by St. Francis:

I resolve and promise for myself and for mybrothers to have that same loving care and special

solicitude for you as (I have) for them. (The Formof Life)

Both Gregory IX and Innocent IV had set the Poor

Ladies monasteries under the protection of the Superior of

the Minor Brothers, but they found the responsibility too

heavy and tried by all means to be released from it. They

succeeded up to a certain extent in 1250, when the Cardinal

Protector took upon himself the governance of the

monasteries.

Yet, Clare did not surrender in defeat, and wished toleave her will quite clear in her Rule.

At the canonical situation of many of the monasteries,

subject to Episcopal jurisdiction, the letter of this precept

has no application today, and neither do the first two

paragraphs of chapter XII, the one stating that the Visitator

be ever of the Order of Friars Minor, or the other one,

requesting for charity sake, a small community of brothersclose to the sisters monastery for their spiritual and

material assistance.

What remains obvious is the spirit of those clauses,

coming up from the very heart of Clare: the awareness of

her evangelical vocation, common in fact to both Orders,

the oneness and mutual support in the endeavor to the one

and only ideal of poverty and minority, the right of the PoorSisters to get from the Friars Minor, at least in the spiritual

aspect, the help they might need, and the duty to repay

them back with the treasure of their contemplative

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experience through their testimony of a life of total

detachment and silent immolation.

An important step to bring about the realization of St.

Clares longings has been taken with the creation of the

Religious Assistants in each of the federations, and with

the ad tempus attributions granted to the General Minister by the Motu proprio Eclessiae Sanctae regarding therenewal and revision of the sisters Constitutions. Along

that same line, a special Office for the sisters has been

established at the General Curia of the three branches of the

First Order.

The new Canon Law foresees the co-association of the

sisters monasteries to a male Order, while maintaining

their own way of life and government according to their

own Constitutions. In such a case, the reciprocal rights

and duties are to be clearly determined in such a manner

that the said co-association may serve to their spiritualwelfare. Those that are not associated are entrusted to

the special care of the diocesan bishop in accordance with

the norms of the Canon Law. (Can. 614, 615).

According to the Constitutions, the monasteries alone

are co-associated to the First Order that have been

expressly set under the authority of its superiors; the rest of

them remain under the care of the diocesan bishop. Inorder to get the status of the co-associated, the grant of the

Holy See is required after the favorable vow of the

conventual chapter, the consent of the diocesan bishop and

the acceptance of the General Minister (Gen CC, art. 253;

CC cap. 199)

Obedience to Sister Clare and

her Successors

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This last clause of Chapter I corresponds to a similar

one of St. Francis Rule and is part of the professionformula. Life in obedience is really not only an inner

attitude of acceptance of Gods will and of docility to the

Holy Spirits impulse, but is indeed embodied in a person

who, no matter how much she exercises her authority of

humble service, will always be, to the sister who has

promised obedience, an irreplaceable instrument of living

this same obedience.

Each Abbess is the successor of St. Clare or, as St.

Veronica Giuliani would say, She takes the place of the

Blessed Mother.6 the sisters in each community owe

obedience to their mother and servant just as it was

promised and offered to the Foundress by the first St.

Damiano Community.

Footnotes to Chapter 1

1. Bull Cum nobis, 14 at I. Omaechevarria p. 231.

2. The news, not quite reliable, comes from a certain Stephen, alay brother somehow guilty of animosity against Philip

Longo. Hist. Franc. Arch. 12 (1919) pp. 382-384.

3. Paul VI, Evangelica testificatio, 12.4. Rnb, 1.5. The formula without property, borrowed from St. Francis

Rule was the one imposed at that time by the Holy See at the

profession of the religious. St. Francis, disregarding its

juridical sense, interpreted the living without property as

having the spirit detached and free from selfish interests.

6. St. Veronica Giuliani, Diary VI: Le lettere, Citta dei Castello,

1992, 2

nd

ed., p. 63).

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Documents

Letter and Spirit, Chapter 1