Saint Clare of Assisi, Volume Two

Francis and Clare did not live in a timeless vacuum; they were people of their age. In this second volume Sister Frances Teresa Downing sets St. Clare in her thirteenth-century world, beginning with a simple question: how do we know what we know?

She surveys the politics of pope and emperor and the sources that tell us about Clare, then walks through the places where her story unfolded: San Rufino and the Porziuncola, San Paolo in Bastia, Sant’Angelo in Panzo, Anagni, the Basilica of Santa Chiara and its dossal.

Later sections look at Clare among the bishops and popes of her lifetime, including her long struggle for the Form of Life and her friendship with Agnes of Prague, and at some of the people closest to her.

Written, as Nancy Celaschi, OSF, puts it, “with all the skills of a forensic scientist,” and in a style that is pleasant to read.