St. Clare of Assisi was the cofoundress of the Order of Poor Ladies, or Poor Clares, and embraced a life of poverty in order to make herself completely dependent upon God for all of her life's work. Her name means "enlightened one," and she is often considered the feminine counterpart to St. Francis of Assisi.

Clare was born in 1193 in Assisi to the noble Favarone di Offreduccio di Bernardino, and her mother, Ortolana. Before Clare's birth, her mother received a vision that ensured a safe delivery and was convinced that her daughter would be enlightened. As a child, Clare was exceptionally devoted to prayer and self-mortification, despite growing up in a world of wealth. Clare's mother instilled in her compassion for the poor of Assisi and fervent love for Christ that she carried throughout her blessed life.

When Clare was 19, she heard St. Francis of Assisi preach in the church of San Georgio. His words inspired her deeply, and she privately went to him to beg him to help her live "after the manner of the Holy Gospel." St. Francis promised to assist her and met with her several times for spiritual direction. Though it was generally not an option for a noblewoman of her stature at the time, Clare decided she wished to live a life of radical poverty, in the way of Jesus Christ.

On March 18, 1212 during the night of Palm Sunday, Clare secretly escaped from her family's home and ran to the Porziuncola, where Francis and the Friars Minor lived. There, Francis cut Clare's beautiful long hair and gave her the penitential habit of the Franciscans at the foot of the altar of the Virgin Mary of the Angels. Clare's family made many attempts to force her to return home, but she was passionately resolved to live in imitation of Christ.

After Clare had been moved between several monasteries, Francis finally sent her to San Damiano with a Form of Life, which is the basis of the Rule of St. Clare. San Damiano became home to Clare and the sisters who joined her and they became known as the Poor Ladies of San Damiano. She and her sisters were placed under the care of St. Francis and the Friars Minor. Against her wishes, Clare accepted the title of Abbess in 1215.

Clare led the Poor Ladies in a simple life of contemplation and prayer. Life was difficult at San Damiano, and the sisters relied upon only what the Friars Minor could beg for them. Clare herself was often ill, though she accepted her suffering with joy and felt it brought her closer to God. Twice, Clare courageously rejected rules written for the order that would have taken away the absolute poverty that St. Francis, and therefore Clare, held so dear. Impressed with Clare's passion, Pope Gregory IX granted the sisters the Privilege of Poverty in 1228, which bound them to live without property, just as the Friars Minor did.

There are several instances of miracles surrounding Clare in her lifetime. Perhaps most remarkable is the miracle of the Eucharist that Clare held up to defend her sisters from vicious troops of Saracen mercenaries. Upon seeing the Eucharist, it has been said that the attackers turned back with fright, leaving the sisters unharmed.

Clare and her sisters live a spiritually cloistered life, but went out into the city every day to preach to and care for the poor of the city. Clare's ideas traveled far, aided by the Franciscan missionaries in northern Europe.

Shortly before Clare's death, she once again had to defend their radical poverty after the death of Gregory XI. The Church was still insistent that female religious should accept a more stable way of life. Clare finally took the initiative to write a rule of her own, modeled after the Later Rule of the Friars Minor. Pope Innocent IV approved the rule on August 9, 1253. Clare died peacefully two days later. Her last words, as recorded by Sister Filippa, were: "Go calmly in peace, for you will have a good escort, because He who created you has sent you the Holy Spirit and has always guarded you as a mother does her child who loves her. O Lord, may You Who have created me, be blessed."

After her death, the sisters became known as the Order of St. Clare (OSC). Clare was canonized August 15, 1255 by Pope Alexander IV.