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council of the abbess. 8Let the abbess and her vicaress be themselves bound to observe this form of speaking. 9Let this happen very rarely at the grille but never at the door.a
10Let a curtain be hung inside the grille which may not be removed except when the Word of God is preached or when a sister is speaking with someone. 11Let the grille have a wooden door which is well provided with two distinct iron locks, bolts, and bars, 12so that , it can be locked, especially at night, with two keys, one of which the abbess may keep and the other the sacristan. 13Let it always be locked except when the Divine Office is being heardb and for the reasons given above. 14A sister may not under any circumstance speak to anyone at the grille before sunrise or after sunset. 15Inside the parlor let there always be a curtain which may not be removed.
16No one may speak in the parlor during the Lent of Saint Martinc and the Greater Lent, 17except to a priest for Confession or for some other manifest necessity, which is left to the prudence of the abbess or her vicaress.
[Chapter Six: Not Having Possessions]
1After the Most High Heavenly Father saw fit by His grace to enlighten my heart to do penance according to the example and teaching of our most blessed father Saint Francis, shortly after his own conversion, I, together with my sisters, willingly promised him obedience.d 2When the Blessed Father saw we had no fear of poverty, hard work, trial, shame, or contempt of the world,
- Clare not only maintains the restrictions of the canonical discipline found in the documents of Hugolino and Innocent; she goes beyond them. The grille referred to separated the nuns’ choir from the church. The parlor grille was required first in the Form of Life of Innocent IV. She maintains the requirement of witnesses for conversations with visitors, cf. FLHug 6, 11; FLInn 3.
- In this instance, as in the previous, Clare is more precise and possibly more demanding than the prescriptions of Hugolino. The earlier document made an exception when the “Word of God was proposed,” cf. FLHug 11.
- Toward the end of the fifth century a custom grew up in the diocese of Tours whereby the feast of St. Martin, November 11, initiated a fast that was observed three days of the week. The custom spread so that a penitential season prior to Christmas began on November 11 which was called the “Feast of St. Martin.”
- At this point, Clare inserts in three chapters the heart of the “life and poverty” of Jesus Christ that is the cornerstone of the Order. This section of the Form of Life possesses a dramatically different autobiographical tone that occurs again in the Testament. This particular chapter comes directly from Clare and forms the heart of her Form of Life, thus providing a principal font for this new form of life in the Church.
Regula [Clarae], Fontes Franciscani, p. 2298-2299
8Hanc formam loquendi teneantur pro se abbatissa et eius vicaria observare. 9Et hoc de crate rarissime. Ad portam vero nullatenus fiat.
10Ad quam cratem pannus interius apponatur, qui non removeatur nisi cum proponitur verbum Dei, vel aliqua alicui loqueretur. 11Habeat etiam ostium ligneum duabus diversis seris ferreis, valvis et vectibus optime communitum: 12Ut in nocte maxime duabus clavibus obseretur, quarum unam habeat abbatissa, aliam vero sacrista; 13et maneat semper obseratum, nisi cum auditur divinum officium et pro causis superius memoratis. 14Nulla ante solis ortum vel post solis occasum loqui ad cratem alicui ullatenus debeat. 15Ad locutorium vero semper pannus, qui non removeatur, interius maneat.
16In quadragesima sancti Martini et quadragesima maiori nulla loquatur ad locutorium, 17nisi sacerdoti causa confessionis vel alterius manifestae necessitatis, quod reservetur in prudentia abbatissae vel eius vicariae.
[Caput VI De promissis beati Francisci et de non habendis possessionibus].
1Postquam altissimus Pater caelestis per gratiam suam cor meum dignatus est illustrare, ut exemplo et doctrina beatissimi patris nostri sancti Francisci poenitentiam facerem, paulo post conversionem ipsius, una cum sororibus meis obedientiam voluntarie sibi promisi. 2Attendens autem beatus pater quod nullam paupertatem, laborem, tribulationem, vilitatem et contemptum saeculi timeremus, immo pro magnis deliciis haberemus, pietate motus scripsit nobis formam vivendi in hunc modum: