Clare of Assisi: Life, Writings and Spirituality examines Clare not merely as an obedient footnote to the friars, but as a Franciscan founder in her own right who kept primitive Franciscan ideals alive into the middle of the thirteenth century and transposed them into a womanâs key. Bringing together the best of international research, the text examines Clareâs importance within the early Franciscan milieu and her contribution to the thirteenth-century women's movement. It studies the radicalism of Clare's Franciscan choice, her life within the Monastery of San Damiano, her politicking with Agnes of Prague for the "privilege of poverty," and her uniqueness among other women in Gregory IX's Damianite ordo. Following this historical study are critical translations and literary analyses of Clare's four letters to Agnes of Prague as well as a new translation and commentary on Clareâs Forma Vitae.
Joan Mueller, Ph.D. (1992) in Theology, Duquesne Univeristy, is Professor of Systematic Theology and Christian Spirituality at Creighton University. Her extensive publications on Clare of Assisi and the Franciscan movement include The Privilege of Poverty (Penn State University Press, 2006).
List of Illustrations
Abbreviations
Introduction
PART I
CLARE: FRANCISCAN WOMEN
Chapter One The Franciscan Choice
Chapter Two The Monastery of S Damiano
Chapter Three The Politics of âInfantâs Milkâ: Clare of Assisi
and the Privilege of Poverty
Chapter Four The Ordo that Gregory IX Founded: Clare
among other Ugolinian Sisters
PART II
CLARE: HER WRITINGS
Chapter Five Reading Clareâs Letters in Context
Chapter Six The Agnes Legend in Clareâs Letters
Appendix: The Legend of S Agnes of Rome
Chapter Seven Clareâs Forma Vitae: Unique Contributions
PART III
CLARE: HER WRITINGS IN TRANSLATION
Clareâs First Letter to Agnes
Clareâs Second Letter to Agnes
Clareâs Third Letter to Agnes
Clareâs Fourth Letter to Agnes
Clareâs Forma Vitae 275Bibliography
Index
Illustrations
Those interested in women's history, medieval history and spirituality, the early Franciscan movement, the history of the church, women in legal practice, and Italian and Eastern European studies.