Clare of Assisi and the Poor Sisters in the Thirteenth Century

Preface

Preface This is Maria Pia Alberzoni’s first book published in English. It will give English-speaking audiences access to the research this outstanding Italian scholar has done in the past years on Clare and the Poor Sisters in the thirteenth century. The four chapters composing this volume were originally published separately in Italian. The chapter “Clare and the Papacy” and the appendices were published in 1995 by the Edizioni Biblioteca Francescana in Milan. The chapter “San Damiano in 1228: A Contribution to the ‘Clarian Question’” appeared in 1997 in Collectanea Franciscana (Vol. 67, 459-476). The chapter “Sorores minores and Ecclesiastical Authority to the Pontificate of Urban IV” was part of the acts of a conference on Clare and the evolution of the Poor Clare in the thirteenth century (Chiara e la diffusione delle Clarisse nel secolo XIII) published by the University of Lecce in 1998. And, finally, the chapter “The Papacy and New Women’s Religious Orders” was presented in 1998 at a conference on the papacy and the mendicant orders in the thirteenth century (Il Papato duecentesco e gli Ordini Mendicanti). This publication is the product of a joint effort. Thanks go to William Short, OFM and Nancy Celaschi, OSF for working on the translation from the Italian; to Roberta McKelvie, OSF and Daria Mitchell, OSF for editing the text; and to Trevor Thompson for adapting the notes to the scholarly publications in English as well as for compiling the bibliography. May this book contribute to a better knowledge, understanding and appreciation of Clare of Assisi and her sisters. Jean François Godet-Calogeras, Ph.D. Editor ...