This is the
rule that St Clare wrote eight hundred years ago, upon which we
sisters still base our life today.
Chapter I
In the name of the Lord begins
the form of life of the Poor Sisters.
The form of life of the order of the Poor Sisters that Blessed Francis
established is this: to observe the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by living in obedience, without anything of one's own, and
in chastity.
Clare, the unworthy servant of Christ and the little plant of
the most blessed Francis, promises obedience and reverence to the
Lord Pope Innocent and his canonically elected successors, and to
the Roman Church. And as, at the beginning of her conversion she,
together with her sisters, promised obedience to Blessed Francis,
so now she promises his successors to observe the same obedience
inviolably. And the other sisters shall always be obliged to obey
the successors of Blessed Francis and Sister Clare and the other
canonically elected Abbesses who succeed her.
Chapter II
Those Who Wish to Live this
Life and How They are to be Received.
If, by divine inspiration, someone comes to us desiring to
accept this life, the Abbess is bound to seek the consent of all
the sisters; and if the majority has agreed, she may receive her,
after having obtained the permission of the Lord Cardinal Protector.
If she sees that the candidate is acceptable, let the Abbess diligently
examine her or have her examined concerning the Catholic faith and
the sacraments of the Church. And if she believes all these things
and is willing to profess them faithfully and to observe them steadfastly
to the end; and if she has no husband, or if she has a husband who
has already entered religious life with the authority of the Bishop
of the diocese and has already made a vow of continence; and if
there is no impediment to her observance of this life, such as advanced
age or ill-health or mental weakness. let the tenor of our life
be thoroughly explained to her.
If she is suitable, let the words of the Holy Gospel be addressed
to her that she should go and sell all that she has and take care
to distribute the proceeds to the poor. If she cannot do this, her
good will shall suffice. Let the Abbess and sisters take care not
to be concerned about her temporal affairs, so that she may freely
dispose of her possessions as the Lord may inspire her. However,
if some council is required, let them send her to some discerning
and God-fearing men, according to whose advice her goods may be
distributed to the poor.
After her hair has been cut off round her head and her secular clothes
have been set aside, she may be permitted three tunics and a mantle.
Thereafter, she may not go outside the monastery except for useful,
reasonable, evident, and approved purpose. When the year of probation
is ended, let her be received into obedience, promising to observe
perpetually our life and form of poverty.
Let no one receive the veil during the period of probation. The
sisters may also have little mantles for convenience and propriety
in serving and working. In fact let the Abbess, with discernment,
provide them with clothing according to the diversity of persons,
places, seasons and cold climates, as it shall seem expedient to
her by necessity.
Young girls who are received into the monastery before the age established
by law may have their hair cut round their heads; and, after they
have put aside their secular clothes, they may be clothed in a religious
garb, as the Abbess sees fit. However, when they reach the age required
by law, let them make their profession clothed in the same way as
the others. The Abbess shall carefully provide a Mistress from among
the more discerning sisters of the monastery both for these and
the other novices. She shall diligently form them in a holy way
of life and proper behaviour according to the form of our profession.
Let the same form described above be observed in the examination
and reception of the sisters who serve outside the monastery. These
sisters may wear shoes. No one may live with us in the monastery
unless she has been received according to the form of our profession.
And for love of the most holy and beloved Child who was wrapped
in such poor little swaddling clothes and laid in a manger and of
his most holy Mother, I admonish, beg and exhort my sisters always
to wear poor garments.
Chapter III
The Divine Office and Fasting,
Confession and Communion.
Let the sisters who can read celebrate the Divine Office according
to the custom of the Friars Minor. For this reason they may have
breviaries, reading them without singing. Those who, for some reasonable
cause, are at times unable to recite their hours by reading them,
may, like the other sisters, say the Our Fathers.
Let those who do not know how to read say twenty-four Our Father's
for Matins; five for Lauds; seven for each of the hours of Prime,
Terse, Seat, and None; twelve, however, for Vespers; seven for Compline.
For the deceased , let them also say seven Our Father's with the
Requiem aeternam at Vespers; twelve for Matins, whereas the sisters
who can read are obliged to recite the Office of the Dead. When
a sister in our monastery shall have departed this life, however,
let them say fifty Our Fathers.
Let the sisters fast at all times. They may eat twice on Christmas,
however, no matter on what day it happens to fall. The younger sisters,
those who are weak, and those who serve outside the monastery may
be mercifully dispensed as the Abbess sees fit. In time of manifest
necessity, however, let the sisters not be bound to corporal fasting.
With the permission of the Abbess, the sisters may confess at
least twelve times a year. Let them be careful not to introduce
other talk unless it pertains to the confession and the salvation
of souls. Let them receive Communion seven times a year, that is,
on Christmas, Thursday of Holy Week, Easter, Pentecost, the Assumption
of the Blessed Virgin, the feast of Saint Francis, and the feast
of All Saints. The Chaplain may celebrate within the enclosure in
order to give Communion to the sisters who are in good health or
to those who are ill.
Chapter IV
The Election and Office
of the Abbess; The Chapter, and the Officials and Discreets.
The sisters are bound to observe the canonical form in the election
of the Abbess. Let them quickly arrange to have the Minister General
or the Minister Provincial of the order of Friars Minor present.
Let him dispose them, through the Word of God, to perfect harmony
and to the common good in the election to be held. Let no one be
elected who is not professed. And if a non-professed is elected
or given to them in another way, she may not be obeyed unless she
first profess our form of poverty.
At her death let the election of another Abbess take place.
If at any time it should appear to the entire body of sisters that
she is not competent for their service and common welfare, the sisters
are bound as quickly as possible to elect another Abbess and mother
according to the form of life described above.
Let whoever is elected reflect on the kind of burden she has
undertaken and to whom she must render an account of the flock committed
to her. Let her strive to preside as well over the others more by
her virtues and holy behaviour than by her office, so that moved
by her example, the sisters may obey her more out of love than out
of fear. Let her avoid exclusive loves, lest by loving some more
than others she may cause scandal among all.
Let her console those who are afflicted. Let her also be the
last refuge for those who are troubled, lest, should they fail to
find in her the remedies for health, the sickness of despair might
overcome the weak.
Let her preserve common life in everything, especially in whatever
pertains to the church, the dormitory, refectory, infirmary, and
clothing. Her Vicaress is bound to preserve it in the same way.
The Abbess is bound to call her sisters together at least once
a week in the chapter, where both she and her sisters should humbly
confess their common and public offences and negligences. Let her
consult with all her sisters there regarding whatever concerns the
welfare and integrity of the monastery, for the Lord frequently
reveals what is best to the least among us.
No heavy debt may be incurred except with the common consent
of the sisters and by reason of manifest necessity, and let this
be done through a procurator. Let the Abbess and her sisters, however,
be careful that nothing is deposited in the monastery for safekeeping;
for such practices often give rise to troubles and scandals.
Let all who hold offices in the monastery be chosen by the common
consent of all the sisters to preserve the unity of mutual love
and peace. In the same way, let at least eight sisters be elected
from the more discerning whose counsel the Abbess should be always
bound to use in those matters which our form of life demands. Moreover,
the sisters can and should, if it seems useful and expedient, remove
the officials and discreets and choose others in their place.
Chapter V
Silence, the Parlour, and the Grille.
Let the sisters keep silence from the hour of Compline until Terse,
except those who are serving outside the monastery. Let them also
continually be silent in the church, the dormitory, and the refectory,
only while they are eating. At all times, however they may be permitted
to speak with discernment in the infirmary for the recreation and
service of the sick. Nevertheless, they may communicate whatever
is necessary always and everywhere, briefly and in a low tone of
voice.
The sisters may not be permitted to speak in the parlour or
at the grille without the permission of the Abbess or her Vicaress.
Let those who have permission not dare to speak in the parlour unless
they are in the presence and hearing of two sisters. Moreover, let
them not presume to go to the grille, unless there are at least
three sisters present who have been appointed by the Abbess or her
Vicaress from the eight discreets who were elected by all the sisters
for the council of the Abbess. Let the Abbess and her Vicaress be
themselves bound to observe this form of speaking and this very
rarely at the grille and, by all means never, at the door.
Let a curtain be hung inside the grille which may not be removed
except when the Word of God is preached or when a sister is speaking
with someone.
Let the grille have a wooden door which is well provided with two
distinct iron locks, bolts, and bars, so that, it can be locked,
especially at night, by two keys, one of which the Abbess may keep
and the other the sacristan. Let it always be locked except when
the Divine Office is being celebrated and for the reasons given
above. Under no circumstance whatever, may a sister speak to anyone
at the grille before sunrise or after sunset. Let there always be
a curtain on the inside of the parlour, which may not be removed.
No one may speak in the parlour during the Lent of Saint Martin
and the Greater Lent, except a priest for Confession or for some
other manifest necessity, which is left to the prudence of the Abbess
or her Vicaress.
Chapter VI
The Lack of Possessions.
After the most high heavenly Father saw fit by his grace to enlighten
my heart to do penance according to the example and teaching of
our most blessed Father, Saint Francis, I, together with my sisters,
willingly promised him obedience shortly after his own conversion.
When the blessed Father saw we had no fear of poverty, hard
work, trial, shame, or contempt of the world, but, instead, regarded
such things as great delights, moved by compassion he wrote a form
of life for us as follows:
"Because by divine inspiration
you have made yourselves daughters and servants of the Most
High King, the heavenly Father and have espoused yourselves
to the Holy Spirit, choosing to live a life according to the
perfection of the holy Gospel, Resolve and promise for myself
and for my brothers to always have that same loving care and
solicitude for you as I have for them."
As long as he lived he diligently
fulfilled this and wished that it always be fulfilled by his brothers.
Shortly before his death he once more wrote his last will for
us that we or those, as well, who would come after us would never
turn aside from the holy poverty we had embraced. He said:
"I, little brother Francis,
wish to follow the life and poverty of our most high Lord Jesus
Christ and of his Holy Mother and to persevere in this until
the end; and I ask and counsel you , my ladies, to live always
in this most holy life and poverty. And keep most careful watch
that you never depart from this by reason of the teaching or
advice of anyone."
As I, together with my sisters,
have ever been solicitous to safeguard the holy poverty which we
have promised the Lord God and blessed Francis, so, too, the Abbesses
who shall succeed me in office and all the sisters are bound to
observe it inviolably to the end: that is, by not receiving or having
possession or ownership either of themselves or through an intermediary,
or even anything that might reasonably be called property, except
as much land as necessity requires for the integrity and proper
seclusion of the monastery, and this land may not be cultivated
except as a garden for the needs of the sisters
Chapter VII
The Manner of Working
Let the sisters to whom the Lord
has given the grace of working work faithfully and devotedly after
the Hour of Terce at work that pertains to a virtuous life ads the
common good. Let them do this in such a way that, while they banish
idleness, the enemy of the soul, they do not extinguish the Spirit
of holy prayer and devotion to which all other things of our earthly
existence must contribute.
At the Chapter, in the presence of all, the Abbess or her Vicaress
is bound to assign the work that each should perform with her hands.
Let the same be done if alms have been sent by some benefactors
for the needs of the sisters, so that, in common, a recommendation
may be made for them. All such alms may be distributed for the common
good by the Abbess or her Vicaress with the advice of the discreets.
Chapter VIII
The Sisters Shall not Acquire
Anything of their Own; Begging Alms; the Sick Sisters.
Let the sisters not appropriate
anything, neither a house nor a place nor anything at all; instead,
as pilgrims and strangers in this world who serve the Lord in poverty
and humility, let them confidently send for alms. Nor should they
be ashamed, since the Lord made himself poor in this world for us.
This is the summit of the highest poverty which has established
you, my dearest sisters, heiresses and queens of the kingdom of
heaven; it has made you poor in the things of this world but exalted
you in virtue. Let this be your portion which leads into the land
of the living. Clinging totally to this, my most beloved sisters,
for the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ and his most holy mother,
do not ever wish to have anything else under heaven.
Let no sister be permitted to send letters or receive or give
away anything outside the monastery without the permission of the
Abbess. Let it not be permitted to have anything that the Abbess
has not given or permitted.
Should anything be sent to a sister by her relatives or others,
let the Abbess give it to the sister. If she needs it, the sister
may use it; otherwise, let her give it lovingly to a sister who
does need it. If, however, money is sent to her, the Abbess with
the advice of the discreets, may provide for the needs of the sister.
As for the sick sisters, let the Abbess be strictly bound to
inquire with diligence, by herself and through other sisters, what
their illness requires both by way of counsel as well as food and
other necessities, and let her provide for them charitably and kindly
according to the resources of the place. Because everyone is bound
to serve and provide for their sisters who are ill, let them do
this as they would wish to be served if they were suffering from
some illness. Let each one confidently manifest her needs to the
other. For if a mother loves and cherishes her child according to
the flesh, how much more diligently should a sister love and cherish
her sister according to the Spirit.
Those who are ill may lie on sacks filled with straw and may
use feather pillows for their head; those who need woollen stockings
and quilts may use them.
When the sick sisters are visited by those who enter the monastery,
they may answer with brevity, each responding with some good words
to those who speak to them. But the other sisters who have permission
may not dare to speak to those who enter the monastery unless in
the presence and hearing of the two sister-discreets assigned by
the Abbess or her Vicaress.
Let the Abbess and her Vicaress, as well, be bound to observe
this manner of speaking.
Chapter IX
The Penance to be Imposed on the
Sisters Who Sin; The Sisters Who Serve Outside the Monastery.
If any sister, at the instigation
of the enemy, has sinned mortally against the form of our profession,
and, Wafter having been admonished two or three times by the Abbess
or other sisters, she does not amend, let her eat bread and water
on the floor before all the sisters in the refectory for as many
days as she shall of been obstinate. If it seems advisable to the
Abbess, let her be subjected to even greater punishment. Meanwhile,
as long as she remains obstinate, let them pray that the Lord will
enlighten her heart to do penance.
The Abbess and her sisters, however, must beware not to become
angry or disturbed on account of any one's sin, for anger and disturbance
prevent charity in oneself and in others.
If it should happen may it never be so that an occasion of trouble
or scandal should arise between sister and sister through a word
or a gesture, let she who was the cause of the trouble, before offering
her gift of prayer to the Lord, prostrate herself humbly at once
at the feet of the other and ask pardon, but also beg her with simplicity
to intercede for her to the Lord that he might forgive her. Let
the other sister, mindful of that word of the Lord; "If you do not
forgive from the heart, neither will your heavenly Father forgive
you" generously pardon her sister every wrong she has done her.
The sisters who serve outside the monastery may not linger outside
unless some manifest necessity requires it. Let them conduct themselves
virtuously and say little, so that those who see them may always
be edified.
Let them strictly beware of having suspicious meetings and dealings
with others. They may not be godmothers of men or women lest gossip
or trouble arise because of this. Let them not presume to repeat
the gossip of the world inside the monastery. And let them be strictly
bound not to repeat outside the monastery anything that was said
or done within which could cause scandal.
If anyone should innocently offend in these two matters, let
it be left to the prudence of the Abbess to mercifully impose a
penance on her. But if a sister does this through a vicious habit,
the Abbess with the advice of her discreets, may impose a penance
on her according to the nature of the fault.
Chapter X
The Admonition and Correction
of the Sisters.
Let the Abbess admonish and visit her sisters, and humbly and
charitably correct them, not commanding them anything that is against
their soul and the form of our profession. Let the sisters, however,
who are subjects, remember that they have renounced their wills
for Gods sake. Therefore let them be firmly bound to obey their
Abbess in all things they have promised the Lord to observe and
which are not against their soul and our profession.
Let the Abbess on her part, be so familiar with them that they
can speak and act with her as ladies do with their servant. For
this is the way it must be: the Abbess should be the servant of
all the sisters.
In fact, I admonish and exhort the sisters in the Lord Jesus
Christ to beware of all pride, vainglory, envy, avarice, care and
anxiety about this world, detraction and murmuring, dissension,
and division. Let them be always eager to preserve among themselves
the unity of mutual love which is the bond of perfection.
Let those who do not know how to read not be eager to learn.
Let them direct their attention to what they should desire to have
above all else: the Spirit of the Lord and its holy activity, to
pray always to him with a pure heart, and to have humility, patience
in difficulty and infirmity, and to love those who persecute, blame,
and accuse us, for the Lord says:
"Blessed are those who suffer persecution for the sake of justice,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. But whoever perseveres to the
end will be saved".
Chapter XI
The Custody of the Enclosure.
Let the portress be mature in her
manner of acting, discerning, and of a suitable age. Let her remain
in an open cell without a door during the day. Suitable companion
may be assigned to her who may take her place in everything whenever
necessary.
Let the door be well secured by two different iron locks, with bars
and bolts, so that especially at night, it may be locked with two
keys, one of which the portress may have, the other the Abbess.
Let it never be left without a guard and securely locked with one
key.
Let them most diligently take care to see that the door is never
left open, except when this can hardly be conveniently avoided.
Let it never be opened to anyone who wishes to enter, except those
who have been given permission by the Supreme Pontiff or our Lord
Cardinal. The sisters may not aglow anyone to enter the monastery
before sunrise or to remain within after sunset, unless a manifest,
reasonable, and unavoidable cause demands otherwise.
f a bishop has permission to offer Mass within the enclosure,
either for the blessing of an Abbess or for the consecration of
one of the sisters as a nun or for any other reason, let him be
satisfied with both few and virtuous companions and assistants as
possible.
Whenever it is necessary for other men to enter the monastery
to do some work, let the Abbess carefully post a suitable person
at the door, who may only open it to those assigned for work and
to no one else. Let the sisters be extremely careful at such times
not to be seen by those who enter.
Chapter XII
The Visitator, the Chaplain,
and the Cardinal Protector.
Let our Visitator always be taken from the Order of the
Friars Minor according to the will and command of our Cardinal.
Let him be the kind of person who is well known for his integrity
and good manner of living. His duty shall be to correct any excesses
against the form of our profession, whether these be in the head
or in the members. Taking his stand in a public place, that he can
be seen by others, let him speak with several and with each one
concerning the matters that pertain to the duty of the visitation
as he sees best.
We ask as a favour of the same Order a chaplain and a clerical companion
of good reputation, of prudent discretion and two lay brothers,
lovers of a holy and upright way of life, in support of our poverty,
as we have always mercifully had from the aforesaid Order of Friars
Minor, in light of the love of God and our blessed Francis.
Let the chaplain not be permitted to enter the monastery without
a companion. When they enter, let them remain in an open place,
in such a way that they can always be see each other and be seen
by others. They may enter the monastery for confession of the sick
who cannot go to the parlour, for their communion, for the last
anointing and the prayers of the dying.
Suitable and sufficient outsiders may enter, moreover, according
to the prudence of the Abbess, for funeral services, for the solemnity
of Masses for the dead, for digging or opening a grave, or also
for making arrangements for it.
Let the sisters be strictly bound to always have that Cardinal of
the Holy Roman Church who has been delegated by the Lord pope for
the Friars Minor as governor, protector, and corrector, that, always
submissive and subject at the feet of that holy Church and steadfast
in the Catholic faith, we may always observe the poverty and humility
of our Lord Jesus Christ and of his most holy Mother and the Holy
Gospel we have firmly promised. Amen.