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but, instead, we held them as great delights, moved by pietya he wrote a form of life for us as follows:
3Because by divine inspiration you have made yourselves daughters and handmaids of the most High, most Exalted King, the heavenly Father, and have taken the Holy Spirit as your spouse, choosing to live according to the perfection of the holy Gospel,b 4I resolve and promise for myself and for my brothers always to have the same loving care and special solicitude for you as for them.c
5As long as he lived he diligently fulfilled this and wished that it always be fulfilled by the brothers.
6In order that we as well as those who were to come after us would never turn aside from the holy poverty we had embraced, shortly before his death he repeated in writing his last wish for us. He said:
7I, little brother Francis, wish to follow the life and poverty of our most high Lord Jesus Christ and of His most holy Mother and to persevere in this until the end; 8and I ask you, my ladies, and I give you my advice that you live always in this most holy life and poverty. 9And keep careful watch that you never depart from this by reason of the teaching or advice of anyone.
10As I, together with my sisters, have ever been solicitous to safeguard the holy poverty which we have promised the Lord God and blessed Francis, 11so, too, the abbesses who shall succeed me in office and all the sisters are bound inviolably to observe it to the end, 12that is, by not receiving or having possession or ownershipd either of themselves or through an intermediary, 13or even
- Clare uses the Latin word pietas, a word that is difficult to translate since our English word, piety, does not capture its richness. The classical Roman writers associated pietas with humility, religion, and spirituality and viewed it as the bedrock of all social relationships. Thus pietas implied pity, compassion, sensitivity to another, affection, and, most importantly, the familial devotion and dedication. Cf. Hendrik Wagenvoort, Pietas: Selected Studies in Roman Religion (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1980). For a thorough study of the word in the history of spirituality, see Irénée Moye, “Piété,” Dictionnaire de Spiritualité Ascétique et Mystique (Paris: Beauchesne, 1986), 1694-1743.
- For an understanding of the concept and implications of “the perfection of the holy Gospel,” cf. Duane Lapsanski, Evangelical Perfection: An Historical Examination of the Concept in the Early Franciscan Sources (St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute, 1977).
- Clare secures her Form of Life by reproducing literally the Form of Life and the Last Will written by Francis for the Poor Ladies. She also establishes the claim to the continuing support of the Lesser Brothers that is promised there.
- The translation of proprietas [ownership] seems to have become more refined by the thirteenth century in that it extended beyond simple property to “an estate held in full ownership” or “any land estate” or “ownership for life.” Clare’s use of both possessio [possession] and proprietas [ownership] suggests this refinement. Cf. Jan Frederik Niermeyer, Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus: Lexique Latin Médiéval – Français/Anglais (Leiden, New York, Köln, 1997), 863.
Regula [Clarae], Fontes Franciscani, p. 2299-2300
2Attendens autem beatus pater quod nullam paupertatem, laborem, tribulationem, vilitatem et contemptum saeculi timeremus, immo pro magnis deliciis haberemus, pietate motus scripsit nobis formam vivendi in hunc modum:
3Quia divina inspiratione fecistis vos filias et ancillas altissimi summi Regis, Patris caelestis, et Spiritui Sancto vos desponsastis eligendo vivere secundum perfectionem sancti Evangelii, 4volo et promitto per me et fratres meos semper habere de vobis tanquam de ipsis curam diligentem et sollicitudinem specialem:
5quod dum vixit diligenter implevit, et a fratribus voluit semper implendum.
6Et ut nusquam declinaremus a sanctissima paupertate quam cepimus, nec etiam quae post nos venturae essent, paulo ante obitum suum iterum scripsit nobis ultimam, voluntatem suam dicens.
7Ego frater Franciscus parvulus volo sequi vitam et paupertatem altissimi Domini nostri lesu Christi et eius sanctissimae matris, et perseverare in ea usque in finem. 8Et rogo vos, dominas meas, et consilium do vobis, ut in ista sanctissima vita et paupertate semper vivatis. 9Et custodite vos multum ne doctrina vel consilio alicuius ab ipsa in perpetuum ullatenus recedatis.
10Et sicut ego semper sollicita fui una cum sororibus meis sanctam paupertatem quam Domino Deo et beato Francisco promisimus custodire: 11sic teneantur abbatissae quae in officio mihi succedent et omnes sorores usque in finem inviolabiliter observare: 12videlicet in non recipiendo vel habendo possessionem vel proprietatem per se neque per interpositam personam, 13seu etiam aliquid quod rationabiliter proprietas dici possit,