Saint Clare of Montefalco

Born in 1268 into a wealthy family in Montefalco, Italy, Clare was a lively, sincere, and intelligent child. While still very young, she chose Christ as her one true love. Following her elder sister Joan’s example, Clare began the demanding practice of religious self-denial; and the two young women spent days in prolonged sessions of prayer and exceptional mortification of the flesh. Clare’s parents permitted her to live with Joan in a hermitage not far from their home. In June of the year 1290, this hermitage was declared a monastery to be governed by the Rule of St. Augustine.

Clare was chosen to be the monastery’s abbess; and for sixteen years she served as mother, teacher, and spiritual director of her nuns. Soon Clare’s reputation for holiness and wisdom attracted many visitors to the monastery. Clare, gifted with the spirit of prophecy and the grace of working miracles, frequently conversed with Our Lord. In 1294, at the age of twenty-six, Clare asked Christ, “Where are You going, Lord?” He answered, “I have been searching the whole world over for a strong place to plant My Cross, but I have found none.” Later He told her, “Clare, I have finally found a place for My Cross. I shall place it in your heart.” And from that day on, Clare’s whole body ached with acute pain. Once she said to her sisters, “If you seek the Cross of Christ, take my heart; there you will find the suffering Lord.” By July of the year 1308, Clare’s illness had become so severe that she was bedridden. On August 17, after confessing her sins to the monastery chaplain, she died.

After her death her heart was removed from her body; and a cross and the other instruments of Christ’s passion were found, clearly imprinted on the cardiac tissue (see picture below). The incorrupt body of St. Clare is preserved together with her heart with the miraculous imprints at the Church of the Holy Cross in Montefalco, Italy.