highest poverty that, in freedom of soul, you may be servants of the Lord. Acceding to your pious prayers, by the authority of the Lord Pope as well as our own, we, therefore, confirm forever for all of you and for all who will succeed you in your monast ery, and we ratify by the protection of this document this form of life, the manner of holy unity and of the highest poverty that your blessed Father Saint Francis gave you for your observance in word and in writing. It is as follows:
[Chapter One: In the Name of the Lord
Begins the Form of Life of the Poor Sisters]a
1The form of life of the Order of the Poor Sistersb that Blessed Francis established is this: 2to observe the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, by living in obedience, without anything of one’s own, and in chastity.c
3Clare, the unworthy handmaid of Christ and the little plant of the most blessed Father Francis, promises obedience and rever- ence to the Lord Pope Innocent and his successors canonically elected, and to the Roman Church. 4And, just as at the beginning of her conversion, together with her sisters she promised obedience to the Blessed Francis, so now she promises to observe the same inviolably to his successors. 5And the other sisters shall always be obliged to obey the successors of Blessed Francis and Sister Clare and the other abbesses canonically elected who succeed her.d
- The original text of the Form of Life does not contain divisions into chapters with separate titles. These are of later origin but retained here to facilitate reading, although a richer interpretation of the document’s theology can be discovered without them.
- In addition to asserting at once that Francis directly “established” the Order, Clare also makes use of the original title, “Poor Sisters.” Her choice of the term sorores [sisters] instead of monache [nuns] expresses a determination to inculcate values of minority and fraternity. By the time of St. Bonaventure, the title “Sisters of Saint Clare” had become current, cf. Saint Bonaventure, “The Morning Sermon on St. Francis,” The Founder, 750. In the Rule of Pope Urban IV (1263), the official title was given: “the Order of Saint Clare.” Cf. Jean-François Godet, “Lettura della Forma di Vita,” Vita Minorum 3 (1985): 239-240.
- Clare does not include a specific formula of profession. Cf. Sr. Margaret Mary, “Evolution of the Teaching on Commitment by Monastic Vow: from Cluny to the End of the 19th Century,” Cistercian Studies 12 (1977): 41-65. There is no formula for profession in the Form of Life of Clare, as there is in the Form of Life of Innocent IV.
- It is worth noting that Clare affirms the bond that links her community to the Lesser Brothers, having lived through the terms of five Ministers General and at a time in which the friars were experiencing significant difficulties in their own interpretation of poverty.
Regula [Clarae], Fontes Franciscani, p. 2292-2293
14nos vestrum sanctum propositum in Domino commendantes, votis vestris et sanctis desideriis libenter volumus affectu paterno favorem benevolum impertiri. 15Eapropter vestris piis precibus inclinati, formam vitae et modum sanctae unitatis et altissimae paupertatis quam vobis beatus pater vester sanctus Franciscus verbo et scripto tradidit observandam, 16praesentibus annotatam, auctoritate domini papae et nostra vobis omnibus vobisque in vestro monasterio succedentibus in perpetuum confirmamus, et praesentis scripti patrocinio communimus. 17Quae talis est]:
[Caput I - In nomine Domini incipit forma vitae sororum pauperum].
1Forma vitae ordinis sororum pauperum, quam beatus Franciscus instituit, haec est: 2Domini nostri Iesu Christi sanctum Evangelium observare, vivendo in obedientia, sine proprio et in castitate.
3Clara indigna ancilla Christi et plantula beatissimi patris Francisci promittit obedientiam et reverentiam domino papae Innocentio et successoribus eius canonice intrantibus, et Ecclesiae Romanae. 4Et sicut in principio conversionis suae una cum, sororibus suis promisit obedientiam beato Francisco, ita eamdem promittit inviolabiliter servare successoribus suis. 5Et aliae sorores teneantur semper successoribus beati Francisci, et sorori Clarae et aliis abbatissis canonice electis ei succedentibus obedire.
