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Class Prep
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Life as a Sacred Text: Clare of Assisi
 The first context within which our work begins is this university itself. It sits on the site of one of the California missions, founded by Franciscans in the late 1700s. This particular mission was named for St. Clare of Assisi, one of the original companions of Francis, founder of the Catholic religious order of the Franciscans.-
- Clare was about your age when she chose to change her life radically. Our secondary reading today explores her radical choices in the context of the violence and growing wealth of 12th century Italy, and the Tavola or tablet painted with scenes from her life will provide a visual companion to her biography.
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- As you read Kruse's short chapter, answer the following questions:
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- What were the sources of violence in 12th century Italy?
- What was the biblical basis for Francis' and Clare's embrace of radical poverty?
- How did she insist on a lifestyle of radical poverty? What choices did she make?
- In what way was her embrace of poverty a response to violence?
- As you begin your college career, with its natural concerns over costs, student debt, and your future career, and as you begin that in a context of a nation and world marked by violence natural and human, are there actions like Clare's that you can imagine to stem the violence?
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- Assigned Readings
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- Primary: The Tavola of St. Clare
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- Secondary: John V. Kruse, “The Embrace of Radical Poverty: Clare of Assisi’s Unconventional Response to a World of Violence,” in Violence, Transformation, and the Sacred: “They Shall Be Called Children of God” (ed. Margaret R. Pfeil and Tobias L. Winright; Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2012) 144-59 (Camino); online class prep
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- Slides for Lecture
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- Today's Author
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John Kruse is an Associate Professor of Theological Studies at Neumann University, a Catholic school in the Franciscan tradition in Philadelphia. His research focuses on Clare and Francis, founders of the Franciscan order. |
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- Further Reading
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- Bartoli, Marco. Saint Clare: Beyond the Legend, trans. Sister Frances Teresa Downing. Cincinnati: St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2010.
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- Beebe, Rose Marie and Robert M. Senkewicz. Junípero Serra: California, Indians, and the Transformation of a Missionary. Norman, Oklahoma: The University of Oklahoma Press, 2015.
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- Lambert, Malcolm D. Franciscan Poverty: The Doctrine of the Absolute Poverty of Christ and the Apostles in the Franciscan Order, 1210–1323. London: S.P.C.K., 1961.
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- Little, Lester K. Religious Poverty and the Profit Economy in Medieval Europe. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1983; original, 1978.
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- Skowronek, Russell K., with Elizabeth Thompson. Situating Mission Santa Clara de Asís, 1776–1851: Documentary and Material Evidence of Life on the Alta California Frontier: A Timeline. Berkeley: Academy of American Franciscan History, 2006.
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- Todeschini, Giacomo. Franciscan Wealth: From Voluntary Poverty to Market Society, trans. Donatella Melucci; ed. Michael F. Cusato, Jean François Godet-Calogeras and Daria Mitchell. Saint Bonaventure, New York: The Franciscan Institute, 2009.
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- Links
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- Saint Francis in Frescoes - The full cycle of frescoes of Francis' life in the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi. These were painted within 60 years of his death, indicating how highly he was regarded by the people of his time. Click on each image to "read" his life.
- Città di Assisi - The official website of the city in Umbria, Italy, where Francis and Clare grew up.
- World Heritage Site: Assisi - A description of the Umbrian town where Clare and Francis were from, with images of some of the key sites associated with them. The official UNESCO website offers some additional links.
- The California Missions Trail - Descriptions of each of the 21 Franciscan missions in (Alta) California, hosted by the California Department of Parks and Recreation.
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- Acknowledgements
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