Palm
Sunday 1212
You did not choose me,
no, I chose you to go out and bear much fruit. (Jn
15:16)
The
people at Mass file up to receive the blessed palms. Glare remains in
her place. Is she afraid? Does she think that her going out of the city
walls, planned for this night, might lead, as the first Palm Sunday
led, to Calvary? Or is it a sign? Does Guido, Bishop of Assisi, know
what is going to happen and gives it his blessing?
All
we know is that he stepped down from the altar to take the palm to the
girl who has not come up for it. In the picture Glare stands in front
of her sister Agnes, surrounded by other women. Both sisters have crowns
of myrtle, the symbol of fruitfulness and virginity. Glare wears a red
dress, but the artist has slit it to show a penitential hair cloth tunic
below. Glare is poor in spirit, she had not presumed to choose or to
take for herself- she has let God choose for her and has been the receiver
of his gifts.
Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
(Mt 5:3)
A
Great Bargain
Sell what you have and give it
to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven, and come follow me..
(Lk 18:22)
Reflecting
on this night, Clare wrote, many years later, 'What a great bargain it
is to exchange the things of time for those of eternity!"
Francis
and his brothers wait with lighted torches at the little church of Saint
Mary of the Angels that Francis has rebuilt. Francis is only a tenant
- he has to pay an annual rent of a basket of fish to the Benedictines
for its use. Clare has come to give her life away.
On
the night of Palm Sunday 1212 Clare came alone, but the love of family
and security that could hold her back is literally personified behind
her. The five disapproving ladies and the furtive gentleman are members
of the Offreduccio household. The woman half clinging to and half offering
Clare is no doubt her own mother, Ortulana, who later became a Poor Clare
herself, and the sneaky looking gent at the back is Uncle Monaldo, who
will reappear in the fourth and fifth miniatures.
If
this picture were to have a title it would be "The world and the Spirit
contend for the heart of Clare." The offended ladies drawing their cloaks
aside and shaking their fingers at the brothers are being confronted by
another element that was not present on the night - the marks of the nails
in the hands and feet of Francis. Throughout this icon, the artist shows
Francis with the marks of the nails in his hands and feet, this is not
because he does not know that they came rather later, nor is it simply
a trade mark to identify Francis, for he already has one; his halo. It
is a statement about the relationship of Francis and Clare; which is not
a half-earthy romance, but a meeting in the wounds of Christ. In his wounds
is their peace for the blood of Christ has made them one.
Blessed
are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God
(Mt 5:9)
The Lady Poverty
The foxes have holes and the
birds of the air have nests, but the son of Man has nowhere to lay his
head . (Mt 8:20)
Inside the
church of the Portiuncula Clare kneels before the altar. She is now wearing
the habit. With scissors in his wounded hands, Francis snips away at Clare's
long tresses. The brothers look startled - as well they might, for Francis
is taking vast (and, no doubt, quite unconscious) liberties with Canon
Law.
Clare is alone now, without even the
symbolic presence of companions. But here comes the insider touch: neatly
painted, beyond the sleeve of her habit, is the cuff of her red dress.
The painter knew too much about Francis, (who always swore that he only
know two ladies by sight) to think that the Lady Clare would have been
required, or even allowed, to undress with the thoroughness Francis showed
at his own conversion.
In a beautiful scene in the Zeffirelli
film Brother Sun and Sister Moon "Clare" meets the brothers by daylight
in a stream by a waterfall, and flinging off her dress stands with her
shift blowing in the breeze. A beautiful image. But it never happened.
This picture shows the covenant of mercy,
the covenant between the sexes that our age struggles so ineffectively
after. Clare is accepted and respected as a unique human person without
having to abnegate her sexuality or needing to display it. Her freedom
lies in belonging completely to God.
Looking at the meaning of the word miserecordia,
from which mercy is derived; it has a lot to do with allowing anguish
to be planted in our hearts. Francis and Clare lived this reality to the
full. Francis agonised, in great loneliness, over the call to follow his
Lord in the Gospel way of life. Clare allowed him to plant his insights
into her heart and lived them - allowing him in turn to find support and
strength in his hour of temptation and weakness, when all that he stood
for was questioned by his brothers.
Blessed
are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. (Mt
5:7)
The Way of The Cross
Do not be afraid for I have overcome
the world. (Jn 16:13)
So, on Palm
Sunday night, Francis and Brother Philip escorted Clare to the Benedictine
Monastery of San Paolo. Not because any of them thought that Clare should
become a Benedictine, but for the a very practical mediaeval reason: San
Paolo's had the Right of Sanctuary. If Clare took refuge there she could
not be dragged away by force. Francis expected trouble, but he did not
wait around to confront it. Throughout his life, their covenantal relationship
left Clare free to make her own choices and to live out her absolute trust
of God.
The unfortunate Benedictines, shown
here with stripe-edged veils, must have had a traumatic Holy Week. The
Offreduccio clan arrived as one man. "They employed violent force, poisonous
advice and flattering promises, trying to persuade her to give up such
a worthless deed that was unbecoming to her class and without precedent
in her family. But taking hold of the altar cloths, she bared her shorn
head, maintaining that she would in no way be torn away from the service
of Christ. With the increasing violence of her relatives her spirit grew,
and her love - provoked by injuries - provided strength."
Blessed
are those who are persecuted for righteousness for the kingdom of heaven
shall be theirs. (Mt
5:10)
Firstborn of the Family of Faith
If they persecuted me they will
persecute you also. (Jn 15:20)
A few days
after this, probably on Easter Monday, Francis collected Clare and took
her to the innovative little Beguine community of San Angelo, whose lifestyle
was very different to that of her first hostesses, the Benedictines. The
Beguines led independent lives of personal poverty and were a sort of
mixture between a secular institute and a hermitage. But Clare's spirit,
to quote the contemporary Legend, "could find no rest there". The unrest
was mutual. A fortnight later, Clare's younger sister Agnes ran away to
join her. There was no Right of Sanctuary at San Angelo and Uncle Monaldo
and his knights dragged Agnes out literally by her hair. Clare "prostrated
herself in prayer with tears" and the men seemed suddenly unable to drag
Agnes any further. In a final fit of fury Monaldo drew his sword to kill
the teenage girl, but Clare's prayers and, no doubt, his own bad conscience,
paralysed his arm. Glare came out from the church and persuaded them to
go, which they did "in a bitter spirit at their unfinished business."
An inset in the top of this picture
shows Agnes being received into the Order. Francis reaches out to cut
off her hair. But her hands are placed in fealty between Clare's hands,
for it is to Clare, as the representative of the obedience of Christ,
to whom Agnes commits herself. Another insider touch, and a very modern
one.
Agnes' preservation is a miracle. She
is saved from being dragged home because her body has seemed to become
so heavy that it cannot be moved. She has, quite literally, inherited
the earth at the humble prayer of her sister. This is the Clarean way
of confronting violence - by prayer and persuasion, for perfect love casts
out fear.
Blessed
are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. (Mt
5:5)
Daily Bread
Those who love me will keep my
word, and my Father will love them and we will come to them and make our
home in them. (John 14:23)
After this,
Francis finally took Clare and Agnes to San Damiano. It was in this church
that he had heard the voice from the crucifix saying: "Rebuild my Church,
which, as you see, is falling down", and it was here that he had prophesied,
before he had a single brother: "Here will come to dwell ladies who will
glorify our heavenly Father throughout his holy and universal Church by
their celebrated and holy manner of life."
San Damiano had to be rebuilt, of course,
before the sisters could come home to it - and by the look of its architecture,
it was prophetically enlarged as well. Not that in the beginning of her
life there sisters came to join Clare in a great rush. The development
was slow, to begin with, but by the end of her life there were fifty sisters
in San Damiano and maybe as many as one hundred Poor Clare communities
in Europe.
They did - and do - nothing spectacular.
The objective of their life as Clare puts at the head of her Rule, is
"to observe the holy Gospel, by living in obedience, without property
and in chastity." They live and work together. They pray and adore God,
they give help to those who come to their door seeking the fruit of prayer
and healing. And when what they earn and what is given to them does not
suffice, they beg.
Assisi did not take this lying down.
Why should women - some of them from wealthy families - give away their
dowries to the poor and then expect Assisi to chip in and contribute?
Charity was not always forthcoming.
The multiplication of bread is a part
of the Gospel account - our Lord did it himself. Here two miracles are
shown - one loaf of bread being cut to feed fifty sisters, part of it
going to the friars who served at San Damiano, (one sister is carrying
the cut off portion away) and the multiplication of the oil. Clare washed
the oil cruse with her own hands and had it put out for one of the brothers
to take begging, but it was filled immediately before he could leave.
Bread for the hungry and oil for gladness,
and a lifestyle whose priority is seeking first the kingdom and its righteousness.
This being observed, God takes care of the rest.
Blessed
are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall have
their fill. (Matthew
5:6)
A Good Escort
At midnight there was a cry,
behold the bridegroom is here, come out to meet him. (Mt
25.6)
In this picture
Clare lies on a rough woollen mattress stuffed with straw, on the stone
flagged floor of the dormitory at San Damiano. As she is dying she exclaims,
"Go forth with confidence for you have a good escort for your journey.
Go forth, for he who created you has made you
holy, and has loved you with a very tender love as a mother does her child."
When sisters asked to whom she was speaking, she answered, "To my blessed
soul. I bless you, 0 Lord, because you have created me!" Then. turning
to her sisters "Can you, too, see the King of glory?"
A witness at Clare's canonisation, Sr
Benvenuta, who knelt at her bedside, began to think of the great holiness
of the Lady Clare and how it seemed that the whole court of heaven would
be preparing to honour her... "then I suddenly saw with my own eyes (no,
I was not asleep,) a great multitude of virgins in white with crowns,
entering through the door of the room, and among the virgins one who was
more beautiful, wearing a magnificent crown.... and they covered the Lady
Clare with a most delicate cloth. Then the Virgin of Virgins bowed her
head over the Lady Clare and disappeared."
Blessed
are the pure in heart for they shall see God. (Matthew
5:8)
The People in darkness see light
Truly I say to you, wherever
this Good News is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will
be told in remebrance of her. (Mt 26.13)
Clare has
accomplished all that the Lord desired of her, and here we have a veritable
eye-witness picture of her funeral Mass in the Church of San Georgio.
Pope Innocent IV, who was residing in the neighbouring city of Perugia,
and had already visited Clare on her deathbed, has come with his retinue
to bury the saint.
Clare lies on a trestle with her head
on a scarlet and gold cushion that is still preserved at the Sacro Convento.
The pall, which is shown here matching it, has obviously disappeared over
the centuries. Both were first used for the burial of Francis and are
possibly the work, and certainly the gift of the Lady Jacopa de Settisoli,
the lady whom Francis called Brother Jacopa. The pillow is kept with two
other cloths embroidered by Jacopa and has a design of alternate eagles
and lions - the Imperial insignia.
Behind Clare stands a brother holding
the processional cross (the same cross was used at Francis' obsequies)
and the holy water stoup and brush. They are gazing at the Pope in surprise.
So are those in his train; some of whom are dressed in purple or black
while others - including Innocent himself, wear red. The Pope wished to
omit the funeral Mass and say that of a virgin (or rather, presumably,
of a virgin-martyr) instead. For Clare was already a saint. The cardinals
implored him to behave in a more seemly manner and the irate prelate on
his right is holding the Missal firmly open at the "Lux perpetua luceat
in aeternam". But Innocent could only be persuaded to defer her canonisation
for the same two years that had elapsed between the death and canonisation
of Francis.
In a way, this is a strange picture
with which the cycle should end. Clare is in heaven. In the preceding
picture, Our Lady has come to escort her to her Bridegroom. It is we,
now, who are gathered around her relics, the relics that are still preserved
in Santa Ghiara. We are one with the Pope who knew her personally, with
the brothers who called her Mother, to us belongs the blessedness of mourning
and to us is offered, through the saving cross upheld over Clare's head,
through the final absolution of the funeral service, the comfort of heaven,
the forgiveness of sins which Clare herself sought and which she received.
Blessed
are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. (Mt
5.4)
The Poor Woman of Assisi
In the centre
panel, Clare stands in a plain grey tunic of unbleached wool. About her
waist is the cord with its three knots, symbolising the vows of poverty,
chastity and obedience. On her head is a veil of thin black wool with
a lining of white linen. She wears a cloak of russet, or lazzo, as it
was known in Italy, a cheap, coarse woollen mixture.
The Pilgrim
In her left hand Clare holds a short
stave surmounted by the Jerusalem Cross. This is the Crusaders' cross,
the symbol that they "took" and had sewn to their garments as a sign that
they were pilgrims and soldiers who wished to "rebuild the Jerusalem on
earth." With her right hand, Clare points to this cross and looks us in
the eye. As in all icons, the viewer is part of the perspective of the
picture.
Clare wished to go to the east. One of the witnesses at her canonisation
said "She had such a fervent spirit that she would have willingly endured
martyrdom for the defence of the faith and her Order, for the love of
God. Before she was sick, she desired to go to those parts of Morocco
where it was said the brothers had suffered martyrdom." Another early
source tells us that she was deeply moved by the plight of Moslem women,
to whom she wanted to bring the Good News.
But she lived this pilgrimage, this going out, in one place. 'We are strangers
and pilgrims in this world," she said, of the way she desired her sisters
to live. In her last blessing, she prays that her sons and daughters be
counted amongst the Church Militant on earth.
The Passover
The prophetic mystery at the root of
Franciscan living is the Passover. At the Fourth Lateran Council, Pope
Innocent III had proclaimed: "A Passover in the flesh which should be
marked by the liberation of Jerusalem on earth, a Passover of the Spirit
whereby the whole Church should pass from vice to virtue and lastly an
eternal Passover celebrating the passage from this life to the glory of
heaven." He had seen himself as the prophet Ezechiel, the man with the
scribe's ink horn, going out to mark the elect with the sign of the Tau.
And, if you look closely at Clare's brow, in the middle of the thumb print
of the hand of God which stands for the anointing of the Holy Spirit and
is always present on the brows of saints in classical iconography, there
is a delicate but distinct T. As it happens, Tau in the Hebrew alphabet
is an X. But Pope Innocent and Francis and Clare and the painter of this
panel all took it to be a Greek Tau which is the letter T and with which
Francis ever after signed his correspondence.
The Invitation
But we are not contemplating all this
as outsiders. Clare is looking at us, she is inviting us to go on this
spiritual pilgrimage and this eternal Passover, so as to arrive home on
the other side in heaven.
Become What You Are
At first glance, there is one important thing missing from this icon.
And it might be said to be the central mystery of her life: Clare and
the Eucharist. Clare repelling the Saracens with the Blessed Sacrament
is absent from the hagiographic scenes, and she is not depicted, as later
artists have preferred to show her, holding the monstrance.
That is because the artist and his age
had a more realistic grasp of sanctity than we permit ourselves. Behind
Clare's head, in the central apse of the sanctuary that is the recessed
ground of an icon two angels uphold a heavily bordered halo. Christ is
present in Clare as he is present in the host. In the final glory of heaven,
Clare has become what she has received. The dimensions of her personality
are not changed, just as the wheaten nature of the host is not removed
in the sacrifice of the Mass. God does not absorb and destroy what he
possesses, he irradiates it with his real presence. He, Christ, possesses
Clare, as he possessed the womb of his mother Mary, without injury to
her virginity -neither the physical virginity of her womb nor the created
virginity of her personhood. God does not destroy what he has made. So
it is Clare who is the monstrance of the radiant presence of God.
Another Franciscan, born a few years
after Clare's death, the poet Dante, uses the same image. In his encounter
with his beloved, Beatrice, in the Earthly Paradise (Purgatory, Canto
XXX) he sees a great procession coming towards him, like a Blessed Sacrament
procession. In it angels are strewing flowers, accompanied by the four
living creatures, the twenty-four elders and personifications of the Virtues,
in a real and living mystery play, like the enacted ones that accompanied
the Blessed Sacrament in the Corpus Christi procession in England before
the reformation. Riding on the great triumphal chariot which is greeted
with cries of "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord", is the
veiled figure of Beatrice. In the next canto, when she lifts back her
veil, Dante sees Christ in her eyes.
Later, much later, at the summit of
Paradise, Dante is finally able to see God in his Triune infinite self.
But he began by seeing him in a fellow creature who was a saint. For if
you cannot love your neighbour whom you can see, how will you love God
whom -as yet - you cannot see. That is the purpose of painting the icon
of a saint, that you look into his or her eyes and see the reflection
of God.
The two flying angels who uphold Glare's
halo emphasise this. They resemble the two angels found on either side
of the host in the design of many early monstrances, including the one
preserved in Assisi.
This is the central meaning of the icon.
This is not a picture postcard from Assisi, it is an encounter with God;
it is an invitation, as Saint Augustine said, to become what we are and
be what we receive. We pray in the words that Clare's first biographer
put into the mouths of the crowds who came running as they heard of her
death:
Truly she was a saint.
She now reigns gloriously with the angels,
she who on earth has received such honour before men.
Intercede for us with Christ,
O first fruit of the Poor Ladies;
you who have led countless souls
to penitence and to life.
Amen.
