Cloud of Witnesses: Two kids from Umbria

Among the venerable saints and heroes of Christendom who are depicted in the cloister windows at Chester Cathedral are two rich kids from Umbria, the beautiful region in central Italy that is renowned for its medieval hilltop towns and villages. 

Among the most famous of them is Assisi, situated on a spur of Monte Subasio with spectacular views over the lush Umbrian countryside. It was here, in the late 12th century, that a baby boy, Giovanni Francesco, and a baby girl, Chiara, were born into two wealthy families, the Bernardones and the Offreduccios. They look down at us from their cloister windows not as the rich young kids they were originally but as the poor and humble adults they became. They are better known as St Francis and St Clare of Assisi.

Francis was born in about 1181, Clare a few years later, and although they may have known each other as children, it was not until Clare reached the age of eighteen that their paths crossed in a way that would have a profound effect upon the course of Christianity. As a teenager, Francis was a spoilt brat with a reputation for drinking heavily and breaking the city curfew. Although he was expected to enter the family textile firm, he dreamt of becoming a warrior knight. He did not have to wait long: when Assisi went to war against Perugia in 1202, Francis joined the city’s cavalry; but lacking in combat experience he was soon captured and held as a hostage in a dank underground cell. It was there that he encountered God and his life changed for ever.

After a year of painful negotiations, the ransom for his release was paid and Francis returned home. But now, far from being the tearaway teenager that he once was, he spent his time in prayer and in communion with the animals and birds around him. One day, in the church of San Damiano, he heard the voice of Jesus calling him to a life of extreme poverty. Francis obeyed, and together with a group of loyal followers he began preaching in the countryside around Assisi. They were known as the Franciscan brothers, and it was while Francis was preaching at the church of San Giogio that the eighteen-year-old Clare came to him seeking to live in the way of the gospel. At Francis’s instigation her hair was cut and she exchanged her rich gown for a plain robe and veil.

Clare entered a convent on Monte Subasio where she was joined by her sister Catarina. In time, a small dwelling was built for the sisters beside the church of San Damiano, and other women joined them to form the ‘Order of Poor Ladies’. As a result of their simple life of poverty and seclusion, Francis recognised them as a ‘second order’ community of contemplative nuns and changed their name to ‘Poor Clares’.

In 1216 Clare reluctantly accepted the post of abbess of San Damiano. Devoted to Francis, whom she saw as her spiritual father, she nursed him through his final illness. After his death in 1226 at the age of forty-four Clare became known as alter Franciscus – another Francis. Believing that it was only through living a life of extreme deprivation that they could become closer to Jesus, the daily routine of the Poor Clares revolved around manual labour and prayer. They went barefoot, slept on the ground, abjured meat and observed an almost complete silence. Clare died in August 1253 at the age of fifty-nine and was buried in what is now the basilica at Assisi that bears her name.

Do these famous saints have anything to say to the world that now surrounds them? The universal image of St Francis as a man at one with nature has obvious echoes in our current fears about the catastrophic effects of human activity on the future of planet earth. He is a watchful witness to the sanctity of life in all its forms, however humble. St Clare has different resonances in the historical record where she is revered as ‘poor’ Clare. Her rejoicing in the extreme austerity practised by her and her nuns might not cut much ice with those who pass by her in the Chester cloister today, but she may perhaps be seen as a salutary reminder that there is much more to life than the accumulation of possessions. Together, these two rich kids from Umbria may still have something to say to our world about self-denial and the reverence for life.