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Hey there, Sproutsds. Today is Wednesday, August 11, 2021. Today is also the feast day of St. Clair of Vassisi. Now, St. Clair was a dear friend of St. Francis of Assisi. They lived at the same time,

and they also answered very similar callings. St. Clair of Vassisi was born into a wealthy family, but after she heard St. Francis

speak, she was inspired to give her whole life to Christ, to give up all of the wealth and

comforts of her life. So one night she left her home.

She met St. Francis.

He cut her hair and dressed her in rags.

And she began her life as a poor Claire.

Now, after her father heard about this, he was super angry.

And he came to the church and attempted to drag her home,

but St. Clair was stubborn. She clung to that altar, and her father was unable to move her.

Eventually, her own mother and sister came and joined her order as well. Now, more women came to join. They took on this really

severe life of prayer, of penance, of begging. They wore no shoes out of penance all year long.

They wore very simple rags, and they ate very simple foods, mostly vegetables. They fasted from meat all year.

So eventually, with all the women living with her, St. Clair decided to write a rule, and in doing so,

she would form a new order. So she wrote this, she presented it to the Pope. The Pope was very impressed by her,

but he was a little bit shocked by how severe her rule was. Particularly, he was surprised that the

poor Clairs would never own anything, not anything. In fact, they don't even own the land that they

live on or the monastery that they live in.

And he thought this was too harsh. It put them in too great of a danger. But St. Clair was

determined to live completely off of the charity of other people. The Pope told her if she removed

this one sentence, he would okay the order, but she refused. Once again, she was stubborn.

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