CLARISSES. – Name of the Second Order founded by St. Francis of Assisi together with St. Clare of Assisi in 1212 and, at the beginning, propagated especially by Cardinal Ugolino (Gregory IX). Abstracting from the primitive Rule of Life (not preserved) given by St. Francis to St. Clare and her first disciples, the Rules followed in the 13th century by the Clarisses were four, of which two (the 3rd and 4th) are still in force today.
The 1st, composed in 1219 by Cardinal Ugolino, is entitled (owing to the prohibition of the Fourth Lateran Council against making new rules) to St. Benedict, without imposing its observance, as Innocent IV expressly declared to St. Agnes of Prague. This legal fiction lasted until 1247, when Innocent IV, by publishing the 2nd Rule, substituted the name of St. Francis for that of St. Benedict. The 3rd Rule is due to St. Clare herself. Concerned by certain mitigations introduced by the 2nd Rule, she insisted on the highest poverty, silence, and fasting. It was approved by Innocent IV on 9 August 1253. Urban IV in 1263 gave the 4th Rule, in which the Order of St. Clare is mentioned for the first time, and common ownership of goods is permitted. The Clarisses who observe this Rule are called Urbanists.
For practical governance, some generals of the Franciscan Order and various cardinal protectors of the 13th–14th centuries issued special norms collected by Fr. Bughetti in *Arch. franc. hist.*, 13 (1920), pp. 89–135. Alongside poverty (absolute for those following the 3rd Rule), strict claustration has been a characteristic from the beginning, extended in 1298 by Boniface VIII to all sisters.
Although of different origin, the enclosed Sisters Minor (Sorores Minores inclusae), instituted by the Blessed Isabella of France, sister of St. Louis IX, whose Rule was approved by Alexander IV in 1259 and, in a second redaction, by Urban IV in 1263, may also be considered Clarisses. This Rule was observed at Longchamps (Paris), in Rome (S. Silvestro in Capite and S. Lorenzo in Panisperna during the Middle Ages), and in four monasteries in England until 1539. Today it is no longer in use.
Having suffered the deleterious influence of the times in the 14th century, St. Colette undertook to reform the Order in the first half of the 15th century. The basis of the reform was the Rule of 1253 and the special constitutions drawn up by the Franciscan General William of Casale (1434) and approved by Pius II in 1458. The Colettine Clarisses still flourish today.
In the 16th century, through the work of Maria Longo in Naples, the reform of the Capuchin Clarisses arose and then spread to other countries. They observe the 3rd Rule of St. Clare, the constitutions of St. Colette, and certain usages received from the Capuchins. The Clarisses founded by the Blessed Beatrice of Silva (d. c. 1490), although in the first papal bulls of the Order of St. Clare they are called such, have a completely distinct Rule approved by Julius II in 1511, forming a separate Order in close relation with the Order of Friars Minor. They are numerous especially in Spain. Various other branches exist, such as the Missionary Clarisses of the Blessed Sacrament (Bertinoro), the Poor Clarisses of the Immaculate Conception (United States, Brazil), etc.
The Order of Clarisses is a contemplative Order, but over time various monasteries have adapted to the needs of the times and places, especially since the 19th century. Thus the Clarisses of Faenza run a higher school for young ladies, while those of Ratisbon and Riedenburg in Bavaria direct schools; in Ireland, besides schools, various monasteries also run orphanages for girls, workshops, and other social works. These, however, are exceptions.
The Clarisses spread rapidly. By 1228 there were already 24 monasteries, listed in a letter of the Cardinal Protector Rainaldo (Alexander IV). They were all in Italy, but soon they appeared in other countries: in Spain the first foundations were at Zamora (1229), Pamplona (1230), Barcelona and Piacenza (1231); in France at Reims (1237) and Bordeaux (1246); in Bohemia, through the work of the Blessed Agnes of Bohemia (q.v.), at Prague; in Germany at Ulm (1237), transferred in 1258 to Söflingen. By the end of the 18th century there were very many monasteries in all Catholic countries, but Josephinism, the French Revolution, the secularization in Germany, and Napoleonic suppression greatly reduced their number. From the second half of the 19th century they revived in large numbers and spread also to North America, while in South and Central America they had already existed under Spanish rule. In 1932 the Clarisses numbered 630 monasteries, of which 137 in Italy, 281 in Spain, 48 in France, 37 in Belgium, 4 in Holland, 11 in Germany, 16 in England, 10 in Ireland, etc., with nearly 13,000 religious.
By their original constitution and by current canon law (can. 500 § 2) they enjoy exemption privileges, but in practice many are under the jurisdiction of diocesan bishops, while some monasteries depend on the Order of Friars Minor.
The Clarisses have had a great number of illustrious members for nobility of birth (over 150 princesses), for strength of character—e.g., Caritas Pirckheimer, who at Nuremberg successfully resisted the Protestants—and the Clarisses of Geneva (1534), but especially for holiness of life, such as Sts. Agnes, sister of St. Clare, Elizabeth of Portugal, Colette, Catherine of Bologna, Veronica Giuliani, the Blesseds Helen of Enselmini, Agnes of Prague, Isabella of France, Margaret Colonna, Philippa Mareri, Battista Varano, Louise of Savoy, Margaret of Lorraine, and many others. – See Pl. CXII.