Clare of Assisi was about eighteen years old on 28th March 1211. The night she decided to steal away from her parents’ home to devote her life to God, joining Francis in Porziuncola, was the one which, as Palm Sunday, marked the start of Holy Week. The young girl’s flight, on the other hand, marked the start of a story which continues even today.
This morning, the Poor Clares of Jerusalem celebrated together with the friars of the Custody the eight hundred years that have passed since that day, opening the eighth centenary of the foundation of the Order with a Mass presided by the Custos, Brother Pierbattista Pizzaballa. The procession to the monastery church was opened by the relic of the Saint, in the hands of the Mother Superior, Sister Cristiana, whilst other sisters carried flowers and her icon.
Shortly before, welcoming the faithful who had gathered in the monastery garden – in the midst of the peace of the tall trees and the splendid view over the Holy City slightly blurred by the morning mist – Sister Letizia recalled above all the importance of the gesture of the young woman from Assisi: “Clare risked everything that night to follow Jesus. We begin our celebration here, looking at Jerusalem, to underline the bond with the Mystery of the Resurrection.”
The Mother Superior had the task of greeting the faithful when Mass was over: “Clare could not know what would come from her gesture, she could not know that long story that has led to us, today. Or perhaps she sensed it or she saw it, as often she blessed not only the sisters present but also those who were to come afterwards. The story of God with man has characteristics that are repeated: from the initiative of one, others follow. The fecundity of the faith crosses the centuries.”
In his homily, the Custos also stressed Clare’s choice: “Not casual but providential, also because of the time she made it. Hers was a Paschal gesture, the passage to a new life in the fullness of the relationship with the Lord.”
“Being in Jerusalem is a grace,” Brother Pizzaballa concluded. “It means bearing witness to our total participation in the life of Christ every day.” Being in Jerusalem, for the sisters of St. Clare also means having answered the call that the Franciscans addressed to them. The monastery, founded here at the end of the 19th century, risked closure a few years ago, as only a few elderly sisters lived there. The Custody, in agreement with the Latin Patriarchate, spared no efforts so that this presence could continue, contacting the Umbrian Federation of the Order, which in 2007 gave new lifeblood to the monastery, by sending six sisters, including the present Mother Superior.
There could not be a better wish for the community of the Poor Clares than the words of their spiritual father, Brother Frédéric Manns: “Like the house of Lazarus we heard about in the Gospel, filled with the scent of nard as Mary anointed the feet of Jesus, this is how Jerusalem must be, this year that we are starting today, filled with the perfume of Clare.”
By Serena Picariello
Photos by Marco Gavasso
This morning, the Poor Clares of Jerusalem celebrated together with the friars of the Custody the eight hundred years that have passed since that day, opening the eighth centenary of the foundation of the Order with a Mass presided by the Custos, Brother Pierbattista Pizzaballa. The procession to the monastery church was opened by the relic of the Saint, in the hands of the Mother Superior, Sister Cristiana, whilst other sisters carried flowers and her icon.
Shortly before, welcoming the faithful who had gathered in the monastery garden – in the midst of the peace of the tall trees and the splendid view over the Holy City slightly blurred by the morning mist – Sister Letizia recalled above all the importance of the gesture of the young woman from Assisi: “Clare risked everything that night to follow Jesus. We begin our celebration here, looking at Jerusalem, to underline the bond with the Mystery of the Resurrection.”
The Mother Superior had the task of greeting the faithful when Mass was over: “Clare could not know what would come from her gesture, she could not know that long story that has led to us, today. Or perhaps she sensed it or she saw it, as often she blessed not only the sisters present but also those who were to come afterwards. The story of God with man has characteristics that are repeated: from the initiative of one, others follow. The fecundity of the faith crosses the centuries.”
In his homily, the Custos also stressed Clare’s choice: “Not casual but providential, also because of the time she made it. Hers was a Paschal gesture, the passage to a new life in the fullness of the relationship with the Lord.”
“Being in Jerusalem is a grace,” Brother Pizzaballa concluded. “It means bearing witness to our total participation in the life of Christ every day.” Being in Jerusalem, for the sisters of St. Clare also means having answered the call that the Franciscans addressed to them. The monastery, founded here at the end of the 19th century, risked closure a few years ago, as only a few elderly sisters lived there. The Custody, in agreement with the Latin Patriarchate, spared no efforts so that this presence could continue, contacting the Umbrian Federation of the Order, which in 2007 gave new lifeblood to the monastery, by sending six sisters, including the present Mother Superior.
There could not be a better wish for the community of the Poor Clares than the words of their spiritual father, Brother Frédéric Manns: “Like the house of Lazarus we heard about in the Gospel, filled with the scent of nard as Mary anointed the feet of Jesus, this is how Jerusalem must be, this year that we are starting today, filled with the perfume of Clare.”
By Serena Picariello
Photos by Marco Gavasso