Clare of Assisi and the Poor Sisters in the Thirteenth Century

Chapter 2 San Damiano in 1228:A Contribution to the “Clarian Question”

Chapter 2 San Damiano in 1228: A Contribution to the “Clarian Question” If we are to consider Clare’s Testament authentic, its mention of the privilegium paupertatis obtained from Innocent III becomes decisive; however, we fail to realize that the argumentation is flawed by the very fact that Innocent’s Privilege must be proven to have been granted by that pope. One cannot base one hypothesis upon another one.1 These words which Ovidio Capitani presented on the occasion of the study day held in Bologna in May 1994 take us straight to the heart of the problem that Maleczek has so courageously faced.2 Since this author has prepared the Italian translation of Maleczek’s work, I would like to present a brief outline of his research and the conclusions that he reached. I shall try to be as brief as possible. The author begins with what he considers to be flaws in the “form” of the so-called privilegium paupertatis of Innocent; he then conducts a careful analysis of the document in relation to the formulary used by the chancery at the time of Innocent III. The fact that Maleczek has interests and skills that are primarily dedicated to the study of diplomatic documents3 certainly allows him to face the problem without the prejudices that have so greatly influenced – and continue to do so – the study of 90 CLARE OF ASSISI AND THE POOR SISTERS issues related to the beginnings of the experience of Francis and the early fraternitas.4 An examination of the text of the presumed document of Innocent leads Maleczek to note incongruities with the formula for solemn privileges used in Innocent’s chancery. His comparison of the privilegium attributed to Innocent III with the text of the doubtlessly authentic Sicut manifestum est (the privilegium Gregory IX granted to San Damiano in September of 1228 and to Monteluce of Perugia in June, 1229) allows us to see “the only substantive difference” (that is, the phrase that begins, “Et si qua mulier,” which foresees the possibility that those who did not wish to conform to the community’s way of life could transfer to another community)5 as an interpolation that is actually contrary to the canonical teaching on the transitus of religious, a teaching that had undergone particular development in the twelfth century and which had also been incorporated into papal documents from the time of Alexander III onwards. Then, still trying to verify the compatibility of such a privilegium with the events at the monastery of San Damiano in 1215-16 (the period in which historians have tried to situate the so-called privilegium of Innocent) Maleczek reviewed the history of Clare and her community within the context of papal initiatives related to the so-called “women’s religious movement ” up to 1230. Such an examination also supports the scholar in his conviction that there would have been no reason to request such a papal document in the period prior to the pontificate of Gregory IX. Since Innocent’s privilegium is named in sources of a certain importance for the history of Clare, Maleczek first examines chapters 14 and 40 of the Legenda sanctae Clarae. In the first instance, in order to illustrate Clare’s tenacity in pursuing the virtue of poverty, the hagiographer (Thomas of Celano?) reports that the saint asked Innocent III for a special privilege, the first draft of which the pope enthusiastically personally composed. In the second episode, speaking of Clare’s long illness , the biographer presents her in an attitude of supplication , begging the cardinal of Ostia, who had come to visit her, to supply a solemn confirmation of the privilegium paupertatis. 91 SAN DAMIANO IN 1228 After an attentive examination of the passages in question and of the historiography that had already examined them, Maleczek concludes that Thomas of Celano was expressing himself in a generic way when discussing papal documents. Maleczek concludes that it is not plausible to use the evidence offered by the Legenda to validate the existence of a privilegium paupertatis. At this point all that is left for the author to do is to examine the other important source, the Testament of Clare, which contains an explicit statement that the saint had obtained from Innocent III a privilegium guaranteeing the observance of absolute poverty. She then had taken pains to request the confirmation of that act by successive pontiffs.6 In the...