Gospel in Action: The Life of Clare of Rimini

179 Franciscan Studies 64 (2006) GOSPEL IN ACTION: THE LIFE OF CLARE OF RIMINI Prologue Clare of Rimini was close, in the space, the time and the spirituality, to Angela of Foligno, Margaret of Cortona or Clare of Montefalco.1 She already belonged to the same generation. She did not live in Umbria , but in the border region of Romagna. She was marked by Franciscan influence and briefly in relationship with personalities who are traditionally classified in the trend of the “Spirituals.”2 Obviously, the humble Clare has not reached the same celebrity as her spiritual sisters , Angela, Margaret or Clare of Montefalco. Actually, few sources informed us about her historical existence. The oldest one is a marginal mention in the manuscript nowadays preserved in the Vatican Library, Urb. lat. 11. It is a commentary on the Gospels, Acts of the Apostles and Revelation written in old French for the court of Ferrantino Malatesta, Lord of Rimini. Through the colophon, we learn that the author, Geoffrey of Picquigny, ended his work August 24, 1321 and the scribe, Peter of Cambrai, finished the copy January 23, 1322. The splendid volume includes two hundred thirty four miniatures painted by Neri of Rimini. At folio 170v, in the margin facing a picture of Christ surrounded by the Virgin and Joseph in front of seven doctors, we can find the mention in which the scribe gave his instructions for the painting in Latin (because he was French 1 On contemporary female religious experiences, see at least C. W. Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women (Berkeley-Los Angeles-London: University of California Press, 1987); A. Benvenuti Papi, “In Castro Poenitentiae .” Santità e Società Femminile nell’Italia Medievale (Rome: Herder, 1990); Donne e Fede : Santità e Vita Religiosa in Italia, L. Scaraffia and G. Zarri, eds. (Rome-Bari: Laterza, 1994); Women and Religion in Medieval and Renaissance Italy, D. Bornstein and R. Rusconi, eds. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996). 2 D. Burr, The Spiritual Franciscans: From Protest to Persecution in the Century after Saint Francis (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001). 180 JACQUES DALARUN and the painter was Italian): “Hic inveniunt Ihesum sedentem in cathedra inter doctores et est ibi templum; et pingatur sicut est in ecclesia sororis Clare” (“Here they find Jesus sitting in a throne among doctors, and there is a temple; and paint it like it is in the church of Sister Clare”). Some acts, mainly testaments drawn from 1329 to 1481, identify the little community founded by Clare in Rimini with the name of its founder.3 The first donation, from Riguzino of Rigone of Montalto, is dated July 27, 1329 and addressed to conventui sororum sororis Clare de Arimino (the convent of the sisters of Sister Clare of Rimini).4 The double genitive sororum sororis may suggest that Clare was already dead in 1329, whereas she was likely alive in 1321 (let’s notice, in the Vatican manuscript, the single genitive ecclesia sororis Clare). In the following acts, she is always mentioned as soror (sister), never as beata (blessed) or sancta (saint), while her community is called conventus (convent), monasterium (monastery), locus (place) or ecclesia (church). Between the two dates mentioned in the Vatican manuscript (1321) and the oldest testament (1329), Clare probably died and her legend was written. It may sound strange, but we do not know precisely when these two events happened and – even more surprising – we are not able to say in what order they happened. We only know that Clare’s agony occurred while the Dominican Friar Jerome Fisici was bishop of Rimini, so between March 15, 1323 and September, 1328.5 Such an indication does work with the two quoted mentions of Clare, likely alive in 1321, likely dead in 1329. She died in that period, some February 10. The legend inspired a marvellous triptych, nowadays preserved in the Fesch Museum of Ajaccio, the right panel of which represents a vision of Clare told in the legend, while the left panel is an Adoration of the Three Wise Men and the central one a very expressive Cruci3 J. Dalarun, “Lapsus Linguae,” La Légende de Claire...