Clare of Rimini, Bl.
CLARE OF RIMINI, BL.
Franciscan tertiary, mystic; b. Rimini, Italy, 1262 or 1282; d. Rimini, Feb. 10, 1320 or 1346. Born of the wealthy Agolanti(?) family, Clare married young and lived scandalously until at the age of 34 she received the grace of conversion. She then joined the franciscan third order and after the death of her second husband gave herself to rigorous penance, prayer, and the service of the poor. Living with several companions near the poor clare convent, which she had established, she observed the Rule of St. clare of assisi but without enclosure, in order not to hinder her works of charity. Her mystical experiences, to which her iconography sometimes refers, centered on the Passion and the wounded side and heart of Christ. Although Pius VI confirmed her cult (1784), her feast is not in the Franciscan calendar.
Feast: Feb. 10
Bibliography: l. wadding, Scriptores Ordinis Minorum (3d ed. Quaracchi-Florence 1931–) 7:394–400. lÉon de clary, Lives of the Saints and Blessed of the Three Orders of St. Francis (Taunton, Eng. 1885–87). a. butler, The Lives of the Saints, rev. ed. h. thurston and d. attwater (New York 1956) 1:297–298.
[m. f. laughlin]