Dormitory of Saint Clare and The Cloister
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Saint Clare was a woman member of the upper classes of Assisi (feudal knights). She was also a very pious woman who, in 1212 (Night of Palm Sunday), was converted by Saint Francis to a humble and simple life of poverty. The Church of San Damiano is the “holy and blessed site where, through the aid of Saint Francis, flourished the glorious religion and most excellent Order of the Poor Clares and holy virgins (…) in which site Madonna Clare, native of the city of Assisi, most precious corner stone, was the foundation for all other stones placed upon her” (Celano, Life of Saint Francis, 8)
The dormitory of Saint Clare is located in Assisi at the Church of San Damiano. It is a very simple place, characterized by the absence of material objects and luxuries. Moreover, it contains few windows and two doors. Due to the space of the dormitory, as well as the type of the floor, the ceiling, and the walls, it is a very cold site within the convent of the Church. In addition, it includes two crucifixes in one of the walls; one small and the other significantly large. The Cloister is also situated at the Church of San Damiano. “In this little place, for the love of Christ, the Virgin Clare spent her life. Placing her nest as a silver dove in the cavity of this mountainside she generated a flock of virgins of Christ, founding a holy monastery and giving birth to the Order of the Poor Clares” (Celano, Life of Saint Clare, 10). It is a “simple charm”, filled with peacefulness, with calmness, as well as with the greatness and brightness of nature. Likewise, it is a “haven of peace”, in which Clare, in September of 1240, confronted the troops of Saracens guided by the emperor Frederic II of Germany. With a small silver box containing the Holy of Holies and through the power of her prayer, the Saracens left the Church of San Damiano (Celano, Life of Saint Clare, 21).
The dormitory of Saint Clare and the Cloister are cultural artifacts of the medieval mendicant period that truly embody the pluralism and the world of values of culture (Niebuhr, Christ and Culture, 34, 38). Even though Clare was born in a considerably wealthy and prosperous family, she reacted against the values promoted by the upper classes of Assisi, including the preservation of land and social status, as well as the conservation of a complacent way of life. She contradicted these values through her faith and her actions, founded on poverty, chastity, obedience, and silence: “Therefore, you have cast aside Your garments, that is, earthly riches, so that You might not be overcome by the one fighting against You, (and) that You might enter the kingdom of heaven through the straight path and the narrow gate (Mt 7:13-14) (The Letters of Saint Clare to Blessed Agnes of Prague, First Letter, 29). Her simplicity, humility, and purity can be reflected in her dormitory; the conflict of these renewed and authentic values of Assisi as a secular state constitute the basis of pluralism within medieval culture. Moreover, her humble confrontation with the Saracens in the Cloister reflects her total opposition to particular values, such as power and dominance; she created a completely new world of values within her culture, in order to guide her community towards the true encounter with Jesus Christ through poverty, austerity, chastity, suffering, and sacrifice.
Additionally, these specific cultural artifacts of the medieval mendicant period reinforce the value of virginity in women; they strengthen feminine purity and oppose the ideal of established or prearranged medieval marriages. Saint Clare transformed the medieval values of marriage and childbirth, by proposing a new world of values founded on the basis of female virginity and chastity. As well, she opened renewed doors towards medieval gender equality, by contradicting the strict gender ideals that were controlling the lives and actions of the medieval society. Moreover, she altered the vision of religious life and vocation during the medieval times; specifically, she provided women with an alternate path of union with God by allowing them to combat feminine medieval ideals and hence, enter into an "equal" society, in which both men and women were correspondingly invited to participate in a life of religiosity, virginity, chastity, spirituality, isolation, silence, and poverty: "If anyone would tell you something else or suggest something which would hinder your perfection or seem contrary to your divine vocation, even though you must respect him, do not follow his counsel. But as poor virgin, embrace the poor Christ" (The Letters of Saint Clare to Blessed Agnes of Prague, Second Letter, 17-18).
The dormitory of Saint Clare and the Cloister reflect the clash between the various societal values of the medieval mendicant period and the renewed values created and reinforced by a woman who, through her actions of humility, poverty, and sacrifice, was able to develop Christian identity on the basis of a renovated path of holiness, of vocation, of virginity, of faith, and of humble emptiness in union with Jesus Christ: “Instead, as someone zealous for the holiest poverty, in the spirit of great humility and the most ardent charity, you have held fast to the footprints (1 Pt 2:21) of Him to Whom you have merited to be joined as a Spouse” (The Letters of Saint Clare to Blessed Agnes of Prague, Second Letter, 7).
The dormitory of Saint Clare is located in Assisi at the Church of San Damiano. It is a very simple place, characterized by the absence of material objects and luxuries. Moreover, it contains few windows and two doors. Due to the space of the dormitory, as well as the type of the floor, the ceiling, and the walls, it is a very cold site within the convent of the Church. In addition, it includes two crucifixes in one of the walls; one small and the other significantly large. The Cloister is also situated at the Church of San Damiano. “In this little place, for the love of Christ, the Virgin Clare spent her life. Placing her nest as a silver dove in the cavity of this mountainside she generated a flock of virgins of Christ, founding a holy monastery and giving birth to the Order of the Poor Clares” (Celano, Life of Saint Clare, 10). It is a “simple charm”, filled with peacefulness, with calmness, as well as with the greatness and brightness of nature. Likewise, it is a “haven of peace”, in which Clare, in September of 1240, confronted the troops of Saracens guided by the emperor Frederic II of Germany. With a small silver box containing the Holy of Holies and through the power of her prayer, the Saracens left the Church of San Damiano (Celano, Life of Saint Clare, 21).
The dormitory of Saint Clare and the Cloister are cultural artifacts of the medieval mendicant period that truly embody the pluralism and the world of values of culture (Niebuhr, Christ and Culture, 34, 38). Even though Clare was born in a considerably wealthy and prosperous family, she reacted against the values promoted by the upper classes of Assisi, including the preservation of land and social status, as well as the conservation of a complacent way of life. She contradicted these values through her faith and her actions, founded on poverty, chastity, obedience, and silence: “Therefore, you have cast aside Your garments, that is, earthly riches, so that You might not be overcome by the one fighting against You, (and) that You might enter the kingdom of heaven through the straight path and the narrow gate (Mt 7:13-14) (The Letters of Saint Clare to Blessed Agnes of Prague, First Letter, 29). Her simplicity, humility, and purity can be reflected in her dormitory; the conflict of these renewed and authentic values of Assisi as a secular state constitute the basis of pluralism within medieval culture. Moreover, her humble confrontation with the Saracens in the Cloister reflects her total opposition to particular values, such as power and dominance; she created a completely new world of values within her culture, in order to guide her community towards the true encounter with Jesus Christ through poverty, austerity, chastity, suffering, and sacrifice.
Additionally, these specific cultural artifacts of the medieval mendicant period reinforce the value of virginity in women; they strengthen feminine purity and oppose the ideal of established or prearranged medieval marriages. Saint Clare transformed the medieval values of marriage and childbirth, by proposing a new world of values founded on the basis of female virginity and chastity. As well, she opened renewed doors towards medieval gender equality, by contradicting the strict gender ideals that were controlling the lives and actions of the medieval society. Moreover, she altered the vision of religious life and vocation during the medieval times; specifically, she provided women with an alternate path of union with God by allowing them to combat feminine medieval ideals and hence, enter into an "equal" society, in which both men and women were correspondingly invited to participate in a life of religiosity, virginity, chastity, spirituality, isolation, silence, and poverty: "If anyone would tell you something else or suggest something which would hinder your perfection or seem contrary to your divine vocation, even though you must respect him, do not follow his counsel. But as poor virgin, embrace the poor Christ" (The Letters of Saint Clare to Blessed Agnes of Prague, Second Letter, 17-18).
The dormitory of Saint Clare and the Cloister reflect the clash between the various societal values of the medieval mendicant period and the renewed values created and reinforced by a woman who, through her actions of humility, poverty, and sacrifice, was able to develop Christian identity on the basis of a renovated path of holiness, of vocation, of virginity, of faith, and of humble emptiness in union with Jesus Christ: “Instead, as someone zealous for the holiest poverty, in the spirit of great humility and the most ardent charity, you have held fast to the footprints (1 Pt 2:21) of Him to Whom you have merited to be joined as a Spouse” (The Letters of Saint Clare to Blessed Agnes of Prague, Second Letter, 7).