Saint Clare of Montefalco, Italy - August 17

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Novena to Saint Clare - August 2 - 10

Novena to St. Clare

August 2 – 10

 

Invocation

O most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we praise your Holy

Name and the wonders of grace you worked in your servant, St. Clare. Through her powerful intercession, grant us the favors we beg in this Novena, above all the grace to live and die as she did in your most holy love. Amen.

Day One

O Seraphic St. Clare, first disciple of the Poor Man of Assisi, who last abandoned all riches and honors for a life of sacrifice and highest poverty, obtain from God for us the grace we ask . . . [petitions]. . . that of always submitting to the Divine Will and of living confidently in the providence of our Heavenly Father.

Day Two

O Seraphic St. Clare, who has not forgotten the poor and afflicted, but has become a mother to them, sacrificing for them your riches and working for them innumerable miracles; obtain from God for us the grace we implore. . . [petitions]. . . Christian charity towards others in all their spiritual and temporal needs.

Day Three

O Seraphic St. Clare, light of your country, who has delivered Italy from barbarous invaders; obtain from God for us the grace we implore. . . [petitions]. . . that of overcoming all against faith and morals, thus preserving in our families true Christian peace with a holy fear of God and a devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.

Day Four

Blessed St. Clare, whose very name means light, illumine the darkness of our minds and hearts so that we may see what God wishes us to do, and perform it with a willing and joyful heart. Before your birth, a Heavenly voice foretold that you would be a light luminating the world. Be a light to us in the sorrows and anxieties of this earthly life, and lead us into the eternal light of our home in heaven. Amen.

Day Five

Seraphic St. Clare, whose virginal heart was great enough to love the whole world, take our petitions into your pure hands and present them to God. Pray for us that we may one day enter joyously before the throne of God. Let the light of your perfect purity consume the shadows of sin and corruption that darken the world. Intercede by your innocence for our youth. Safeguard the peace of our homes and the unity of our family. Plead with your chaste love for all in peril. Amen.

Day Six

Generous St. Clare, who left wealth and pleasure and all earthly goods to become the first spiritual daughter of St. Francis and to serve God in the cloister, help us to commit our lives to God without limit or measure, so that He may live in us and shine forth from us to all whose lives touch ours. You who loved souls so much as to make your life a continual sacrifice for them, obtain for use the graces we now implore and win for us the strength to praise God in suffering as well as in joy. Amen.

Day Seven

Faithful St. Clare, loyal daughter of the Church, friend and confidante of popes, intercede for the holy Church, look graciously from heaven on our holy Father Pope Benedict XVI. Enlighten us to remove from our souls all that hinders the progress of the Church on earth. Grant that we may share your great love for the Church of God and spread His kingdom on earth by a holy life. You who worked miracles in the presence of the pope on earth, obtain for us the graces we need, now that you stand in the presence of the most High God in heaven. Amen.

Day Eight

Valiant St. Clare, who fearlessly stood alone against the barbarous Saracens, trusting in the Blessed Sacrament as your only protection, enkindle in us a tender love for Jesus Christ; help us lead Eucharistic lives. You who saved your city of Assisi from plunder and ruin, protect our city and archdiocese, plead for our loved country and the suffering world. A voice from the Sacred Heart rewarded your trust with a promise: "I will always take care of you." Glorious St. Clare, from your high place in heaven, take care of us now in our earthly needs and guide us by your light to heaven. Amen.

Day Nine

Gracious St. Clare, who fulfilled your womanhood by a life of love in prayer and penance, help us to fulfill our destiny that we may one day greet you in heaven. You who were consoled at your death by a vision of Christ and His Mother, obtain for us the grace that we may die under the special protection of God and enter into the light and bliss you now enjoy. Have pity on us who struggle, on us who mourn, and win for us the favors of God, so that after this life, we may come home to Him who lives and reigns forever and ever.

Amen.

V. Pray for us, St. Clare. . .

R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Prayer

We pray You, Lord, grant us your servants who celebrate the Feast of St. Clare, your Virgin, by her intercession, to be partakers of the joys of heaven and co-heirs with your only begotten Son, who being God, lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.

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Art Saint Clare - SImone Martini
Saint Clare - Francesco del Cossa
Saint Clare - Giotto di Bondone
Saint Clare - Lorenzo Lotto

St. Clare of Assisi - August 11

Saint Clare of Assisi

August 11

“The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom do I fear?” (Psalm 27:1)

Clare, the Latin origin of her name means, clear and luminous was born to a wealthy family in Assisi, Italy in 1194 (by some accounts 1193). At eighteen years of age when St. Francis came to teach a course in the church of San Giorgio at Assisi, she was inspired by his words and the Holy Spirit enflamed in her soul. She left her home and all her riches to follow in the steps of St. Francis, finally founding the order of the Poor Clare Nuns with approval by Pope Gregory IX in 1228.

Though, during her life, many miracles were attributed to the prayers and petitions of God’s servant St. Clare, the most famous was that which God performed due to St. Clare’s faith in Our Lord’s real presence in the Holy Eucharist.

“By imperial order, regiments of Saracen soldiers and bowmen were stationed there (near Assisi), massed like bees, ready to devastate the encampments and seize the cities.  Once, during an enemy attack against Assisi, city beloved of the Lord, and while the army was already approaching the gates, the fierce Sarcens invaded San Damiano, entered the confines of the monastery….St. Clare, with a fearless heart, commanded them (her fellow sisters) to lead her, sick as she was, to the door, preceded by a silver and ivory case in which the Body of the Saint of saints was kept with great devotion.  Prostrating herself before the Lord, she spoke tearfully to her Christ:  ‘Behold, my Lord, is it possible that You wish to deliver these Your defenseless handmaids, whom I have taught for love for You, into the hands of pagans?  I pray You, Lord, protect these Your handmaids whom I cannot save alone.’  Suddenly a voice like that of a child resounded in her ears from the tabernacle: ‘I will always protect you!’  ‘My Lord,’ she added, ‘if it is Your will, protect also this city which sustains us for love of You.’  Christ replied, ‘It will have to undergo trials, but it will be defended by My protection.’  Then the virgin, raising a face bathed in tears, comforted her weeping sister:  ‘I assure you, daughters, that you will suffer no harm; only have faith in Christ.’  There was no delay; the fierce Saracens were immediately filled with fear and fled back over the walls they had scaled.”  (The Eucharistic Miracles of the World, catalogue of the Vatican International Exhibition, page 276-277)

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom do I fear?
The Lord is my life’s refuge;
of whom am I afraid?
When evildoers come at me
to devour my flesh,
These my enemies and foes
themselves stumble and fall.
Though an army encamp against me,
my heart does not fear;
Though war be waged against me,
even then do I trust.
One thing I ask of the Lord;
this I seek:
To dwell in the Lord’s house
all the days of my life. (Psalm 27: 1- 4)

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Art
St. Clare and the Assault on Assisi, Giuseppe Cesari (Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia)
Icon in the Basilica of St. Clare of Assisi
Portion of Altarpiece of San Francesco al Monte