POOR CLARES. - Name of the Second Order founded by St. Francis of Assisi with St. Clare of Assisi in 1212 and, at the beginning, propagated especially by Cardinal Ugolino (Gregory IX). Setting aside the primitive Formula vitae (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.
The 1st, composed around 1219 by Cardinal Ugolino, is dedicated (because of the prohibition of the Fourth Lateran Council against making new rules) to St. Benedict, without importing his observance, as Innocent IV expressly declared to St. Agnes of Prague. This ficto iuris lasted until 1247, when Innocent IV, publishing the 2nd Rule, replaced the name of St. Benedict with that of St. Francis. The 3rd Rule is owed to St. Clare. Concerned by certain mitigations introduced by the 2nd Rule, it insists on the highest poverty, on silence and fasting. It was approved by Innocent IV on 9 August 1253. Urban IV in 1263 gave the 4th Rule, in which mention is made for the first time of the Order of St. Clare, and possessions in common are granted. The Clarisses who observe it are called Urbanists.
For practical governance, certain generals of the Franciscan Order and various cardinal protectors of the 13th-14th centuries gave special norms collected by Father Bughetti in Arch. franc. hist., 13 (1920), pp. 89-135. Besides poverty (absolute for the followers of the 3rd Rule), strict enclosure is characteristic from the very beginning, extended in 1298 by Boniface VIII to all the nuns.
Although of different origin, the Sorores Minores inclusae, instituted by 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. It was observed at Longchamps (Paris), at Rome (S. Silvestro in Capite and S. Lorenzo in Panisperna during the Middle Ages) and in four monasteries of England until 1539. Today it is no longer in use.
Since the Order of the Clarisses in the 14th century had suffered the deleterious influence of the times, St. Colette set about reforming 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 general of the Franciscan Order, William of Casale (1434) and approved by Pius II in 1458. The Colettines still flourish today.
In the 16th century, through the work of Maria Longo at Naples, the reform of the Capuchin Clarisses arose, which then spread to other countries. They observe the (3rd) Rule of St. Clare, the constitutions of St. Colette and certain customs received from the Capuchins. The Conceptionist Clarisses founded by Blessed Beatrice da Silva (d. ca. 1490), although called in the earliest papal bulls of the Order of St. Clare, have a rule entirely their own, approved by Julius II in 1511, and form 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 (Berlinoro), the Poor Clarisses of the Immaculate Conception (United States, Brazil), etc.
The Order of the Clarisses is a contemplative Order, but with the passage of time various monasteries have adapted to the needs of the times and places, especially from the 19th century onward. Thus the Clarisses of Paenza have a higher school for young ladies, just as the Clarisses of Regensburg and of Riedenburg in Bavaria also direct schools, while in Ireland various monasteries, besides schools, also direct girls' orphanages, workshops and other social works. These, however, are exceptions.
The Clarisses spread rapidly. By 1228 there were already 24 monasteries, enumerated in a letter of the cardinal protector Rainaldo (Alexander IV). They were all in Italy, but soon they are found in other countries as well. In Spain the first foundations are at Zamora (1229 ?), Pamplona (1230), Barcelona and Plasencia (1233); in France at Reims (1237) and Bordeaux (1246); in Bohemia, through the work of Blessed Agnes of Bohemia (v.), at Prague; in Germany at Ulm (1237), transferred in 1258 to Söflingen. At the end of the 18th century very many monasteries existed in all Catholic countries, but Josephinism, the French Revolution, secularization in Germany, and the Napoleonic suppression in Italy greatly reduced them. From the second half of the 19th century they rose again in large numbers and spread also into North America, while in South America and Central America there were already some 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 law (can. 500 § 2) they enjoy the privileges of exemption, but in practice for the most part they are under the jurisdiction of the diocesan bishops, while some monasteries depend on the Order of Friars Minor.
The Clarisses have had a great number of illustrious figures by nobility of lineage (more than 150 princesses), by forstrength of character, for example, Caritas Pirckheimer, who at Nuremberg resisted the Protestants victoriously, 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 Enselmini, Agnes of Prague, Isabella of France, Margherita Colonna, Filippa Mareri, Battista Varani, Ludovica of Savoy, Margherita of Lorraine and many others. - See Pl. CXII.
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