Poor Clare Sister, Frances Teresa, provides a glimpse into the attraction people (including a pope!) felt toward St. Clare and her steadfast life of prayer

The fourth video in our series by the Franciscan Friars of St. Barbara Province’s Leadership Team/Definitorium features Fr. Tom and Fr. Anthony’s thoughts on St. Clare.

Donna Foley, Secular Franciscan and former FST employee, shares a brief but telling account on how St. Clare helped a frantic mother.

The third video in our series by the Franciscan Friars of St. Barbara Province’s Leadership Team/Definitorium features Fr. Garrett and Br. Bill’s thoughts on St. Clare.

Reflecting on the correspondence between St. Clare and St. Agnes of Prague, Mercedes Mathews, Director of Retreats at MSLR, and Mission Integration Associate in the Provincial Office of Mission Integration, speaks on how these types of holy friendships are maintained today.

If you are interested in reading the letters St. Clare wrote to St. Agnes, click here.

Laura Chun, Secular Franciscan and MSLR community member, shares about an attack of Saracen mercenaries on Assisi and what St. Clare did upon their arrival, making her a badass (Laura’s words, not mine!).

Sister Frances Teresa returns to help us understand the relationship between Sts. Francis and Clare. She also discusses Clare’s influence on the brothers…let’s just say she was no pushover.

Sr. Teresa Downing’s books can be purchased from Tau Publishing here

The second video in our series by the Franciscan Friars of St. Barbara Province’s Leadership Team/Definitorium features Fr. Martin and Br. John’s thoughts on St. Clare.

Sr. Frances Teresa Downing is a Poor Clare sister living in England. She is the author of six books about St. Clare. In the video below, she describes St. Clare in the context of her society which, as it turns out, has a lot of the same problems as ours.

Sr. Teresa Downing’s books can be purchased from Tau Publishing here.

St. Clare died in 1253 and became a saint in 1255. Imagine the celebrations in Assisi! Ever since, St. Clare’s Feast Day is celebrated on August 11th. This year, the US friars are celebrating by welcoming six men into postulancy, which is the first step on the road to becoming a friar. Fr. Sebastian Sandoval, OFM, Vocations Director, recently announced that one of those six men, Ivan Arevalo, is joining the Province of St. Barbara. Welcome Ivan!

My name is Ivan Arevalo, I am 36 years old. I have been working as a Director of Religious Education for the last 5 years. I have been a catechist and youth ministries leader for over 15 years. I was in seminary at Mt. Angel Abby in Oregon for a few years. I am the middle child; I have one older brother and a younger sister that went home to Jesus 30 years ago. I learned to cook and be self-sufficient through my mother. My Mother did not want my brother and I to be “useless” husbands, so she taught us how to manage a household. I am no Iron Chef, but I can hold my own in the kitchen. My favorite meal to make is lasagna with cheesecake for dessert. I look forward to meeting you in August.

Seven friars will also renew their vows on St. Clare’s Feast. Brother Jeff Shackleton OFM explains:

“The friars in temporary profession (that is, the guys who are no longer novices but have not yet made solemn vows) renew their vows on August 11, the Feast of St. Clare. We have them renew vows every year because their vows are, indeed, temporary. In our province, when you’re in temporary profession, you take vows for only a one-year period, so they come up for renewal annually. St. Clare’s feast day is an important date in the Franciscan world, so it seems appropriate to renew commitment to the way of St. Francis on such a day….

The men renewing vows for the year are: Bradley Tuel, Antonio (Tony) Luevano, Andrew Dinegar, Salvador Mejia, Adolfo Mercado, Nathaniel Tran, and Martin Sanabria.”