St. Clare of Assisi
She climbed out a window at eighteen and never went back.
Clare was from a wealthy Assisi family and was expected to marry accordingly. She had been listening to Francis preach, and on the night of Palm Sunday when she was eighteen she went out a side door of her own house, walked to the woods, and let him cut off her hair.
Her family came after her twice and tried to physically drag her home. She held onto the altar cloth until they gave up. Her younger sister joined her two weeks later.
She ran her community for forty years and out-argued two popes to keep the right to own nothing at all, which nobody thought women's monasteries could survive. When soldiers came over the walls she went out to meet them holding the Eucharist, and the story says they turned around and left.
St. Clare of Assisi facts for kids
- She founded the Poor Clares
- Her family tried twice to physically remove her, and failed
- Patron of television: too sick for Mass once, she saw and heard it on the wall of her room
- She fought two popes for the right to live in complete poverty, and won
Feast day: August 11 · Patron of television and eye trouble
St. Clare, help me hold on to the thing I know is right.