Her Bright Merits

Cover Page/Front Matter

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Table of Contents

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pp. iii-iv

Contributors

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pp. v-viii

Mary Walsh Meany, Ph.D., holds a doctorate from Fordham University. During her time at Siena College on the Religious Studies Faculty she focused on Franciscan Tradition, History of Christianity, and Medieval and Renaissance Studies. ...

Introduction

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pp. 1-6

“Her bright merits” is a phrase from the opening of the papal bull proclaiming Clare of Assisi a saint. This volume borrows that description to describe Ingrid Peterson, O.S.F., a brilliant and meritorious Franciscan woman who has illuminated Clare’s merits in our contemporary world. ...

Franciscan Medal Citation

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pp. 7-10

Sister Ingrid Peterson: Member of the Sisters of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, Congregation of Our Lady of Lourdes, member of the faculty of the School of Franciscan Studies, teacher, author, mentor, sister. ...

Fruitful Frienship

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pp. 11-24

Standing at the podium looking out at 1,000 persons attending Clarefest in 1993 at Viterbo University I asked myself, “How is it that I am standing here delivering a paper as if I were a medieval scholar?” The answer to the question is the mutual love Ingrid Peterson, O.S.F. and I share for Clare of Assisi ...

Clare of Assisi: Bringing Her Story to Light

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pp. 25-38

Several years ago during a program involving Ingrid Peterson, I presented Ingrid with a small kitchy statuette of Clare, Patroness of Television. Purchased in a novelty shop in Richmond, Virginia, the tiny image showed the abbess dressed in garish green. ...

Clare and the Younger Macrina: Hagiography and Healing

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pp. 39-60

Those who read about fourth-century Macrina the Younger and Clare of Assisi (1193-1253) may be struck by a remarkable number of parallels, despite the approximately eight centuries and the languages that divide them. Both are Christian virgin saints who espoused a monastic life near the Mediterranean. ...

From Brother Francis to the Poor Sisters of San Damiano: What is left of their correspondence?

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pp. 61-82

Francis of Assisi liked to write. Although a self-proclaimed illiterate,² he left quite a substantial and significant collection of texts, even some autographs. That taste for writing did certainly not proceed from a desire to shine in the pantheon of literature: it would not have been consistent with his living as a minor inspired by the Gospel. ...

The Body and the Text: the Community at San Damiano that Produced the Text known as The Form of Life of the Poor Sisters

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pp. 83-94

Frequently the word charism is used to designate spiritual gifts given to a religious founder. Charism, in this sense, is “unusual, spontaneous and creative.”² The founder is seen as the recipient of extraordinary gifts, shown in exemplary behaviors. ...

Drink at this Sacred Banquet (4th Letter, 9-14)

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pp. 95-110

Clare of Assisi, a woman from the Umbrian Valley, lived a single passion, that is, her identification with Jesus Christ. Her experience, rather than being solitary, finds its roots in an ecclesial experience lived in relation with the early franciscan movement of the brothers and sisters in the early Thirteenth Century. ...

“Poverty, suffering and contempt” in the theology and practice of Angela of Foligno: problem or resource?

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pp. 111-126

Two incidents tend to capture the attention of those encountering the texts and life story of the Franciscan mystic Angela of Foligno (d.1309) for the first time: her admission that early in her conversion process she prayed for the deaths of her immediate family members and her account of drinking the water with which she had washed a leper.² ...

Female Companionship in Angela of Foligno’s Liber: The Role of Angela’s Socia (“Masazuola”)

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pp. 127-142

One day, probably in the early 1290s, a woman living in Foligno heard a voice say to her three times: “The Holy Spirit is in Lella.”¹ “Lella” was Angela of Foligno (c. 1248-1309), who had just joined the Franciscan third order. This unnamed woman went to Angela and said: “Tell me what’s happening,” ...

Angela of Foligno, Magistra Theologorum outside the Universities: An Example of Medieval Somatic Theology

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pp. 143-156

One of the lasting legacies Ingrid Peterson has brought to Franciscan studies is the insistence to break away from patriarchal assumptions and interpretations that have marred Franciscan studies (and I would add Franciscan spirituality). ...

Plantula Francisci, Plantula Mei: Margaret of Cortona and the Franciscan Order of Penitents

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pp. 157-172

The beginnings of the Franciscan Order of Penitents, or Third Order, are shrouded in myth. The prevalence of hagiographic topos, combined with creative re-visioning of the historical record, has ensured that the tale of Francis founding the Third Order has become almost part of Franciscan history. ...

Clare of Montefalco 1268 – 1308 I Bear in my Body the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ

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pp. 173-192

I am honored to dedicate this essay on St. Clare of Montefalco to Ingrid Peterson. Years ago, Ingrid showed us how to look at the women of the Middle Ages in a different light: to honor their wisdom, their union with Jesus Christ in both his humanity and his divinity and to confront the men and women of their day ...

James of Milan and The Stimulus Amoris

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pp. 193-206

James of Milan is a Friar Minor coming from northern Italy during the second half of the thirteenth century.¹ We know nothing about the precise date of his birth, his entry into the Order, or the major turning points of his life. Some identify him with the companion of the pontifical legate, Gregory of Montelongo (1238-1251), ...

Plunging into Mystery

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pp. 207-246

Anesthetized faces appear on those who may never have heard of Gerard Manley Hopkins or of his Pied Beauty. “… for dappled things?” They grow impassive or narcoleptic. Not even a glimmer of hope that they might be thinking: wouldn’t it be easier to call them things of many colors? ...

Studies on Clare and Franciscan Women: What is Ours To Do?

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pp. 247-278

In her 1994 essay, “Franciscan Theology and the Theological Enterprise,” Margaret Carney pointed out how women have slowly crept into Franciscan history.¹ Initially, they were admired for their domestic roles or their personal sanctity within the cloister wall. ...