Saint Clare of Assisi, Volume Five

The final volume of Sr. Frances Teresa Downing’s five-volume study of Saint Clare turns to Clare’s first three letters to Saint Agnes of Prague, a princess of the royal court of Bohemia who became a Poor Clare.

Section A looks at the letters in general: letter writing in the Middle Ages, the textbooks that taught it, the well-constructed letter, and the writer and recipient of all four letters. Each of the three letters is then given in full, set in its date and context, and read closely as a spiritual document.

Volume Four, on Clare’s Fourth Letter, completes the pair. An appendix lists the principal papal documents concerning Clare and the Poor Sisters.