Professional Documents
Culture Documents
_______________________________________________________________________
_
• Requirements of Suitability
a) Orthodox Faith and Christian Life
b) Freedom from Marriage Commitment
c) Contraindications
30
Chapter II, 1-11
1
If, by divine inspiration, someone comes to us
desiring to accept this life, the Abbess is bound to seek the
consent of all the sisters; 2 and if the majority has agreed,
she may receive her, after having obtained the permission
of the Lord Cardinal Protector. 3If she sees that the
candidate is acceptable, let the Abbess diligently examine
her or have her examined concerning the Catholic faith
and the Sacraments of the Church. 4And if she believes
all these things and is willing to profess them faithfully,
and to observe them steadfastly to the end; 5and if she has
no husband, or if she has a husband who has already
entered religious life with the authority of the Bishop of
the diocese and has already made a vow of continence; 6
and if there is no impediment to her observance of this
life, such as advanced age or ill-health or mental
weakness, 7 let the tenor of our life be thoroughly
explained to her.
8
If she is suitable, let the words of the Holy Gospel
(cf Mt. 19, 21) be addressed to her that she should go and
sell all that she has and take care to distribute the
proceeds to the poor. 9If she cannot do this, her good will
shall suffice. 10Let the Abbess and sisters take care not to
be concerned about her temporal affairs, so that she may
freely dispose of her possessions as the Lord may inspire
her. 11However, if some council is required, let them send
her to some discerning and God-fearing men, according
to whose advice her goods may be distributed to the poor
31
God’s Initiative in the Calling
32
short while after his conversion, I, together with a
few sisters whom the Lord had given me after my
conversion, willingly promised him obedience, as
the Lord gave us the light of his grace through his
wonderful life and teaching” (Testament 24- 26).
33
stood her ground and stayed unconquerably firm.1 Agnes,
her younger sister, would imitate her fortitude a little later.
34
who counted on her. The Rule wants to sensitize that
responsibility weighing on the whole community by
requiring that “all the sisters” be counted on when
admitting the postulant to the year of trial.
35
great majority of the sisters composing her community had
forsaken the world persuaded by her through fervent parlor
conversations. Sr. Fellipa disclosed to have entered
because the Saint “made her meditate on how our Lord
Jesus Christ had suffered His Passion and death on the
cross for the salvation of mankind”. Sr. Amatta, a full
niece of Clare, stated to have done so “by the advice and
exhortation of the Saint”. Clare used to tell her how she
had asked God’s grace for her so that she would not allow
her to be deceived by the world ….and so did Sr. Cecilia
and the others. (Proc. IV,1).
The Poor Ladies benefited too from the kindly
propaganda the Brothers of the First Order made for them.,
Francis at the head of them. The Saint sent to Clare five
candidates at one time and, out of them, she soon found one
not apt for that kind of life. (Proc. VI, 15).
In Europe, a great part of the contemplative
communities find themselves affected by a general
vocation crisis. And they regret it much! What might be
the cause? We are not to deem that “divine inspiration”
has ceased inviting to follow Christ in total self-giving. To
say that today’s youth does not offer to take hold of God’s
call is just a comfortable excuse. The same was being said
at the time of St. Francis about the youth in Italian
municipalities. The bare truth is that our youth nowadays
possess nowadays a high degree of authenticity, and
demand verifying whatever they are offered. They wish to
see the ideal embodied in a clear and sincere experience
and know how to discern where spiritual depth exists,
where fraternal love is lived, where the Gospel is the form
of life, as they capture too, on the contrary, where a
senseless, empty conventionalism is prevalent.
36
Requirements of Suitability
37
- when he talked about Clare, he did not refer to her by her
name, but simply called her “the Christian”.5
39
why it only says “let her take care to distribute it among the
poor”, in any case, were she not able to integrally follow
the Gospel advice, “let her good will suffice”.
In order to run courageously the adventure of a life in
poverty, without possessions or fixed income, St. Clare
begins by not allowing the community to receive anything
at all as a consequence of the new sister’s detachment..
Abbess and sisters must give example of disappropriation
by not interfering in the fate she will decide, giving to
whatever she leaves behind, “so that she may freely dispose
of her possessions as the Lord may inspire her”. At most,
she might be referred to persons who could advice her on
the distribution to the poor.
This external renunciation however, is nothing else but
a way to reach the inner one, which alone renders us free to
love. “St. Francis instructed those coming to the Order that
they should first of all outwardly renounce the world by
offering to God, in the poor, their possessions, and
afterwards interiorly, their own persons. He would not
admit into the Order those who did not give up everything,
without keeping anything for themselves, thus fulfilling the
Holy Gospel, and so that the attachment to wealth would
not prove later on an obstacle to them.”9
It is indeed such a disposition of spirit that should be
above all stressed to the postulant, when “explaining to her
thoroughly the tenor of our way of life”, as the Rule
wishes. The previous Rules of Hugolinus and Innocent
IV had stated, after the old monastic pedagogy: “The hard
and austere realities through which one is led to God and
which must necessarily be observed, must be explained to
all who wish to enter this religion before they actually
enter.” Through her humane and Franciscan style, St. Clare
asks that the tenor of our life “be simply presented to the
postulant”.
40
The Rule of St. Clare does not make mention of the
“dowry”. It would have been in frontal opposition to her
ideal of evangelical insecurity.
As a matter of fact, the candidates’ economic
contribution, corresponding to the marriage dowry, was not
introduced among the Poor Clares up to the well advanced
fourteenth century, contemporarily with the distinction
between “choir” and “extern” sisters. It became a universal
prescription of Canon Law only at the Sixteenth century,
after the Council of Trent. In virtue of the Constitution of
Clement XIII (1759), the Apostolic See alone, or the
diocesan bishop in particular cases, could dispense the
“choir” sisters from the dowry. St. Colette allowed, at the
most, a little entirely free contribution by way of alms “as
to the rest of the poor”, but never and in no way as a
condition for admission. The Capuchinesses reform did
away too with the dowry, though by demand of the
ecclesiastic authorities, most of the monasteries had to get
later used to the general canonical norm.
Nowadays, due to the radical changes in the family’s
economy, the tradition of the dowry has lost its meaning,
specially so as it has become a source of discrimination
among the sisters. What really matters is the cultural
preparation of the young candidate, which no longer
depends on the economic condition of the family; and
above all, the purity of her motivation. The dowry has
disappeared in the new canon law. The daughters of St.
Clare then, have been able to back to this point in their own
Rule by establishing it: “It is not permitted to demand or
accept any dowry at all from the postulants.” (Gen CC, art.
187,2) “In accordance with the spirit of our Rule, no form
of dowry will be accepted from the candidate. But if she
would bring any money along with the idea of helping with
expenses, it should be carefully noted. So that it may be
returned, together with her clothing and other personal
41
property, if she ever decides for any reason to leave
religious life.” (Cap CC,16)
In fact, Christ demanded from his immediate followers
the surrendering of their persons and giving up all their
previous possessions. Nothing could be more anti-
evangelical than creating a hierarchy of classes inside the
monastery on account of economic or social family status.
Footnotes to Chapter 2:
42