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THE TWELFTH WITNESS
1. 1Sister Beatrice, daughter of Sir Favarone of Assisi,a nun of the monastery of San Damiano, said under oath 2that she, the witness, was the natural sister of Lady Clare of holy memory whose life was, from her childhood, almost angelic; that she was a virgin and remained always so. 3She was careful about good deeds of holiness so her good reputation was spread about among all who knew her.
The Conversion
of Saint Clare
2. 4She also said, after Saint Francis heard of the fame of her holiness, he went many times to preach to her, so that the virgin Clare acquiesced to his preaching, 5renounced the world and all earthly things, and went to serve God as soon as she was able.
3. 6After that she sold her entire inheritance and part of that of the witness and gave it to the poor.
4. 7Then Saint Francis gave her the tonsure before the altar in the church of the Virgin Mary, called the Portiuncula, 8and then sent her to the church of San Paolo de Abbadesse.b 9When her relatives wanted to drag her out, Lady Clare grabbed the altar cloths and uncovered her head, showing them she was tonsured. 10In no way did she acquiesce, neither letting them take her from that place nor remaining with them.
5. 11Then Saint Francis, Brother Philip, and Brother Bernard
- Sister Beatrice was the third and youngest daughter of Clare’s family. She entered the monastery of San Damiano in 1229 and died there in 1260.
- The monastery and church of San Paolo delle Abbadesse, where Clare was brought after her reception at the Portiuncula, was located near Bastia, about 4km. from Assisi, on the Insula Romana where the Tiber and Chiasco rivers met. A papal bull of Innocent III on May 5, 1201, granted numerous privileges to the Benedictine nuns including broad rights of asylum and forbidding the use of violence under the pain of excommunication. Therefore, in San Paolo, St. Clare was safe from any violent reaction on the part of her family. Cf. Arnaldo Fortini, “New Information Concerning Clare of Assisi,” GR 7 (1993): 21-61.