Order History

The foundress of the Poor Clares was Clare (Clara in Latin/Chiara in Italian), of Assisi. As a young 18-year-old girl, she was struck by the witness of  St. Francis. Guided by the same Spirit, on the night of Palm Sunday 18 March 1212, she ran away from home to pursue a new life as the first woman to follow Francis.

At St. Mary of the Angels Francis and his first companions awaited her and cut her hair – the tonsure, a sign of the irrevocable decision to give up her life and put it in God's hands. She spent a short time in a Benedictine monastery for noble women. She then went to a hospice. There her sister, Catherine, joined her and changed her name to Agnes.

They eventually settled in San Damiano: and for this they were called the Damianites. She was eventually followed by other women including her mother and another sister.
The rule of life of the Poor Clares, with its vow of the highest poverty, was approved by Pope Innocent III, only two days before Clare died, on August 9, 1253.