Clare of Assisi and the Poor Sisters in the Thirteenth Century

Introduction

Introduction Clare and San Damiano between Charism and Institution The so-called “women’s religious movement” has been carefully examined in many studies published especially in the early decades of the twentieth century. An important point of departure for these studies in historiography is the famous work of Herbert Grundmann, which was published in 1935 and then published in a revised edition in 1961.1 In fact, all later publications on this topic make reference to that work. On the other hand, Grundmann himself reaped the plentiful harvest sown by many experts from the ranks of the mendicant orders, research whose results flowed into the major reviews of the respective institutes, such as the Archivum franciscanum historicum, the Archivum fratrum Praedicatorum and the Collectanea franciscana. As for what concerns the origins of the Order that only in 1263 came to be called the “Order of Saint Clare,” I should make special mention of the crucial contributions of Father Livarius Oliger2 and Lilly Zarncke.3 Without repeating observations made in the chapter on “Clare and the Papacy,” we would do well to insist on the importance of these two works for several reasons. First of all, both authors were familiar with the stimulating, intense historical research in Germany in those years (Lemp, Lemmens, Wauer); although each of them had different starting points, the study they give us is rational, untainted by prejudice. I need only mention that the heated debate over the authenticity of the privilegium paupertatis attrib- 12 CLARE OF ASSISI AND THE POOR SISTERS uted to Innocent III and Clare’s Testament would have been avoided to a great degree if due attention had been given to Father Oliger’s observations; in fact, he did not use these two sources because he felt they were unreliable.4 Father Gratien of Paris, author of the work that became the reference point for all later studies on the Order of Friars Minor, basically repeated what Oliger had so carefully established in his work on “Franciscan” women’s monasticism. So, too, the works of Fathers Vicaire and Scheeben, Koudelka and Mandonnet – to name but a few of the Dominican authors of important works published in the Archivum fratrum Praedicatorum – shed light on the salient aspects of the early history of the feminine component of the Order of Preachers. Except for Zarncke, the dominant tendency of the authors mentioned here is to reconstruct the beginnings of these institutions through the filter of later developments, as if from their very first steps the founders had a clear plan for organizing women’s monasteries, or as if from the very beginning religious life had been lived in the same way it was in the post-Tridentine era. These risks were pointed out by Grundmann, whose work proposed a new style of research. He showed how a comparative analysis of the phenomena with that of their contemporaries , situating them in the broader context of the life of the Church, could lead to a greater understanding of the real significance of the events. I would like to point out that, besides citing these important contributions without adding anything new, later studies delved deeper into particular aspects of the complex twelfth century “religious movement,” aspects that were in varying degrees related to national or regional interests in Italy. For example, there were many articles and study congresses on Francis and the Order he founded, especially in the years marking the 750th anniversary of his death (1976) and the eighth centenary of his birth (1981–82). Some degree of interest is also due to the Order’s expansion throughout the various provinces of Italy. Although there have been fewer study congresses, similar observations could be made about Clare of Assisi and the Poor Clares, a field 13 INTRODUCTION of research that has developed in the last decade with some surprising aspects.5 In various regions of Italy, particular attention has been paid to diverse aspects of the “women’s religious movement.” I need only mention the work of Anna Benvenuti and Mario Sensi on the recluses, the bizzoche, and the various unofficial expressions of women’s religious life in central Italy, or the recent publications on the Humiliati or other spontaneous forms of religious life, primarily in northern Italy.6 Special attention has been given to phenomena peculiar to other European regions, such as the Beguines in Flanders.7 Thus we are faced with a diverse and...