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4Let the abbess, on her part, be so familiar with them that they can speak and act with her as ladies do with their handmaid. 5For this is the way it must be: the abbess should be the handmaid of all the sisters.a
6Moreover, I admonish and exhort the sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ to beware of all pride, vainglory, envy, avarice, care and anxiety about this world, detraction and murmuring, dissension and divi- sion. 7Let them be always eager, however, to preserve among themselves the unity of mutual love which is the bond of perfection.b
8Let those who do not know how to read not be eager to learn. 9Let them direct their attention to what they should desire above all else: to have the Spirit of the Lord and Its holy activity,c 10to pray always to Him with a pure heart, and to have humility, patience in difficulty and infirmity, 11and to love those who perse- cute, blame, and accuse us, 12for the Lord says: Blessed are those who suffer persecution for the sake of justice, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 13But whoever perseveres to the end will be saved.
[Chapter Eleven: The Custody of the Enclosure]
1Let the portress be mature in her manner of acting, discern- ing, and of a suitable age. Let her remain in an open cell without a door during the day.d 2A suitable companion may be assigned to her who may take her place in everything whenever necessary.
- The Latin ancilla used here, as well as in RegCl I 3; VI 3, was the common term for a female servant and implied socially inferior status. When used in religious literature it assumed the symbolic meaning of a cloistered woman who freely chose a subordinate position as an act of humility. Cf. Michael Goodich, “The Ancilla Dei: The Servant as Saint in the Late Middle Ages,” Women of the Medieval World, eds. Julius Kirschner and Suzanne F. Wemple (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1985), 119-136.
- Clare adds to the text of Francis’s Later Rule X 7 a double warning against “detraction and murmuring, dissension and division.” Thus she re-emphasizes a fundamental value of the Form of Life and life of the Poor Sisters, “the unity of mutual love.”
- This expression is found in three texts of St. Francis (Adm I 1; I EpFid 3; LRX 8). Thus Francis sees in the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Christ enabling all who accept the Gospel to follow in His footprints, cf. Regis J. Armstrong and Ignatius C.Brady, Francis and Clare, 26, n.1; 63, n.3; 144, 23. Clare not only appropriates the sentiments of Francis, she follows the structural form of his text. Cf. Optatus Van Asseldonk “The Spirit of the Lord and Its Holy Activity in the Writings of Francis,” GR 5 (1991): 103-158.
- The strictness of Clare’s legislation of the enclosure exceeds even that of previous norms for the Cistercians and Premonstratensians. Following the Fourth Lateran Council and the death of Pope Innocent III, the general trend toward rigid legislation regarding the enclosure became the general standard. Hugolino, the future Pope Gregory IX, was one of the advocates of this program. Clare’s experience as abbess was clearly stamped by ultimate acceptance of this view. Cf. Brenda Bolton, “Vitae Matrum: A Further Aspect of the Frauenfrage,” Medieval Women, 253-273; Rosalind Brooke and Christopher N.L. Brooke, “St. Clare,” Medieval Women, 284-287.
Regula [Clarae], Fontes Franciscani, p. 2304-2305
4Abbatissa vero tantam familiaritatem habeat circa ipsas, ut dicere possint ei et facere sicut dominae ancillae suae. 5Nam ita debet esse quod abbatissa sit omnium sororum ancilla.
6Moneo vero et exhortor in Domino Iesu Christo, ut caveant sorores ab omni superbia, vana gloria, invidia, avaritia, cura et sollicitudine huius saeculi, detractione et murmuratione, dissessione et divisione. 7Sint vero sollicitae semper invicem servare mutuae dilectionis unitatem, quae est vinculum perfectionis.
8Et nescientes litteras non curent litteras discere; 9sed attendant quod super omnia desiderare debent: habere spiritum Domini et sanctam eius operationem, 10orare semper ad eum puro corde et habere humilitatem, patientiam in tribulatione et infirmitate, 11et diligere eos qui nos persequuntur, reprehendunt et arguunt; 12quia dicit Dominus: Beati qui persecutionent patiuntur propter iustitiam, quoniam ipsorum est regnum caelorum. 13Qui autem perseveraverit usque in finem hic salvus erit.
[Caput XI - De clausurae custodia].
1Ostiaria sit matura moribus et discreta, sitque convenientis aetatis, quae ibidem in cellula aperta sine ostio in die resideat. 2Sit ei et aliqua socia idonea assignata, quae cum necesse fuerit, eius vicem in omnibus exsequatur.