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The First Letter to Agnes of Prague
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1To the esteemed and most holy virgin, Lady Agnes, daughter othe most excellent and illustrious King of Bohemia,a 2Clare, an unworthy servant of Jesus Christ and uselessb Lk 17:10 handmaid of the enclosed Ladies of the Monastery of San Damiano, her subject and handmaid in all things, commends herself totally with special reverence that she may attain the glory Sir 50:5 of everlasting happiness.c
3I greatly rejoice and exult in the Lord on hearing the fame of Your holy conduct and irreproachable life, [a fame] that has wonderfully reached not only me but almost the whole world,d 4and so not only I, but all who serve and desire to serve Jesus Christ are able to rejoice. 5For, though You, more than others, could have enjoyed the magnificence, honor, and dignity of the world and could have been married to the illustrious Emperor with splendor befitting You and His Excellency, 6You have rejected all these things and have chosen with Your whole heart and soul a life of
- This translation—and those of the remaining writings of Clare herself—is based on Claire D’Assise Écrits, Introduction, Teste Latin, Traduction, Notes et Index par Marie-France Becker, Jean-François Godet, Thaddée Matura (Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 1985); hereafter, Écrits. Insights into many nuances of the Latin text can be found in Edith A. Van den Goorbergh and Theodore H. Zweerman, Light Shining through a Veil: On Saint Clare’s Letters to Saint Agnes of Prague. The Fiery Arrow Collection. Translation by Aline Looman-Graaskamp and Frances Teresa Downing (Leuven: Peeters, 2000).
- The biblical references and allusions found in these writings of and about Clare are placed in the outer margins in order to maintain the scriptural flow of the texts and to encourage readers to reflect on them as did their authors. References to other texts within Clare of Assisi: Early Documents have been placed in the inner margins. All others, e.g., passages from, or allusions to, other authors have been placed in footnotes.
- An immediate similarity can be seen here between Saints Francis and Clare in her choice of images to describe herself as an “unworthy” and “useless” servant, cf. Regis J. Armstrong, “The Prophetic Implications of the Admonitions,” Laurentianum 26 (1985): 396-464. In this sentence St. Clare uses two different Latin words: famula, a woman who was part of the family or a personal domestic servant of a lord or master, and ancilla, someone who was “at the service” of others as a maid or servant. Cf. infra RegCl X 5, note 51. Cf. Michael Goodish, “The Ancilla Dei: The Servant as Saint in the Late Middle Ages,” Women of the Medieval World, eds. Julius Kirschner and Suzanne F. Wemple (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1985), 119-136.
- Throughout this first letter, St. Clare uses the polite or formal manner of address: Vos [You], Vester [Your], etc., that is, the second person plural form. In the other three letters she adopts a more familiar style. To indicate this formal manner of address, the first letter of these pronouns is printed in the upper case.
Epistola Ad Sanctam Agnetem De Praga I, Fontes Franciscani, p. 2263
Epistola Ad Sanctam Agnetem De Praga I
1Venerabili et sanctissimae virgini, dominae Agneti, filiae excellentissimi ac illustrissimi regis Bohemiae, 2Clara indigna famula Iesu Christi et ancilla inutilis dominarum inclusarum monasterii Sancti Damiani, sua ubique subdita et ancilla, recommendationem sui omni modam cum reverentia speciali aeternae felicitatis gloriam adipisci.
3Vestrae sanctae conversationis et vitae honestissimam famam audiens, quae non solum mihi, sed fere in toto est orbe terrarum egregie divulgata, gaudeo plurimum in Domino et exsulto; 4de quo non tantum ego singularis valeo exsultare, sed universi qui faciunt et facere desiderant servitium Iesu Christi. 5Hinc est, quod, cum perfrui potuissetis prae ceteris pompis et honoribus et saeculi dignitate, cum gloria excellenti valentes inclito Caesari legitime desponsari, sicut vestrae ac eius excellentiae decuisset; 6quae omnia respuentes, toto animo et cordis affectu magis sanctissimam paupertatem et corporis penuriam elegistis, 7 sponsum nobilioris generis accipientes, Dominum Iesum Christum, qui vestram virginitatem semper immaculatam custodiet et illaesam.