A letter from Clare of Assisi (1234)

Translated letter:

(1) To the venerable and most holy virgin, the Lady Agnes, daughter of the most renowned and illustrious king of Bohemia, (2) Clare, unworthy servant of Jesus Christ and useless handmaid of the enclosed ladies of the Monastery of San Damiano, her subject and handmaid in all circumstances, commends herself in every way and sends, with special respect, the prayer that Agnes attain the glory of everlasting happiness. (3) Hearing the account, one that brings you the highest honor, of your holy conversion and manner of life, an account that has been reputably disseminated not only to me but to nearly every region of the world, I rejoice and exalt exceedingly in the Lord. (4) Concerning this news, I am not the only one able to rejoice, but also all those who serve and desire to serve Jesus Christ. (5) I rejoice because you, more than others, could have enjoyed public ostentation, honors, and worldly status having had the opportunity to become, with eminent glory, legitimately married to the illustrious emperor, as would befit your and his pre-eminence. (6) Spurning all these things with your whole heart and mind, you have chosen instead holiest poverty and physical want, (7) accepting a nobler spouse, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will keep your virginity always immaculate and inviolate. (8) Having loved him, you are chaste; having touched him, you will be made more pure; having received him, you are a virgin. (9) His power is stronger, his nobility higher, his appearance lovelier, his love sweeter, and his every grace more elegant. (10) You are now held fast in the embraces of the one who has adorned your breast with precious stones and has hung priceless pearls from your ears. (11) He has completely surrounded you with glittering and sparkling gems, and has placed on your head a golden crown engraved with the seal of holiness. (12) Therefore, dearest sister-or should I say, most venerable lady, because you are spouse and mother and sister of my Lord Jesus Christ, (13) and are most resplendently distinguished by the banner of inviolable virginity and holiest poverty-be strengthened in the holy service begun in you out of a burning desire for the Poor Crucified. (14) For all of us he endured the passion of the cross, rescuing us from the power of the prince of darkness-by whose power we were kept in chains because of the transgression of our first parent-and reconciling us to God the Father. (15) O blessed poverty that provides eternal riches to those who love and embrace it! (16) O holy poverty, to those who possess and desire it, God promises the kingdom of heaven and, of course, gives eternal glory and a happy life! (17) O pious poverty that the Lord Jesus Christ, who ruled and is ruling heaven and earth, and who spoke and all things were made, deigned to embrace before anything else! (18) For foxes have dens, he says, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man, who is Christ, has nowhere to lay his head; instead, bowing his head, he handed over his spirit. (19) If, then, so great as such a Lord who, coming into the virgin's womb, chose to appear contemptible, needy, and poor in this world (20) so that human beings, who were utterly poor and needy, suffering from an extremely grave lack of heavenly food, might be made rich in him by means of the kingdom of heaven that they will indeed possess, (21) exalt exceedingly and rejoice, filled with great joy and spiritual happiness. (22) Because-since contempt of the world has pleased you more than its honors; poverty more than temporal riches; and storing up treasures in heaven rather than on earth (23) where neither rust consumes them, nor moth destroys them, and thieves do not dig them up and steal them-your most abundant reward is in heaven, and you have quite fittingly deserved to be called sister, spouse, and mother of the Son of the most high Father and glorious Virgin. (25) For, I am sure that you know that the kingdom of heaven is promised and given by the Lord only to the poor, because as long as something temporal is the object of love, the fruit of charity is lost. (26) You know, too, that one cannot serve God and material wealth, since either the one is loved and the other hated, or a person will serve one and despise the other. (27) You also know that a person wearing clothing cannot fight with another who is naked, because the one who has something that might be grasped is more quickly thrown to the ground. (28) You know, too, that it is not possible for a person to remain glorious in the world and to reign with Christ in heaven; and that a camel will be able to pass through the eye of a needle before a rich person ascends into the kingdom of heaven. (29) These are the reasons why you disposed of your clothing, I mean your wordly wealth, so that you might have the strength not to succumb completely to the one struggling against you, so that you may enter the kingdom of heaven by the narrow road and constricted gate. (30) It is indeed a great and praiseworthy exchange: to give up the temporal for the everlasting, to merit the heavenly rather than the earthly, to receive a hundredfold instead of one, to have a happy, eternal life. (31) I thought, therefore, that I should do all I can to implore Your Excellency and Holiness with humble prayers in the innermost heart of Christ, given that you want to be strengthened in his holy service, (32) growing from good to better, from virtue to virtue, so that the one to whose service you devote yourself with every desire of your mind may deign to bestow freely upon you the rewards you have desired. (33) I also beseech you in the Lord, as best as I can, to be so kind as to include in your most holy prayers me, your servant, although useless, and the other sisters who are devoted to you who live with me in the monastery. (34) By the help of your prayers, may we be able to merit the mercy of Jesus Christ so that we, together with you, may deserve to enjoy the everlasting vision. (35) Farewell in the Lord and please pray for me.

Original letter:

(1) Venerabili et sanctissimae virgini, dominae Agneti, filiae excellentissimi ac illustrissimi regis Bohemiae, (2) Clara, indigna famula Iesu Christi et ancilla inutilis dominarum inclusarum monasterii Sancti Damiani, sua ubique subdita et ancilla, recommendationem sui omnimodam cum reverentia speciali felicitatis gloriam adipisci. (3) Vestrae sanctae conversationis et vitae honestissimam famam audiens, quae non solum mihi, sed fere in toto est orbe terrarum, egregie divulgata, gaudeo plurimum in Domino et exsulto; (4) de quo non tantum ego singularis valeo exsultare, sed universi qui faciunt et facere desiderant servitium Iesu Christi. (5) Hinc est quod, cum perfrui potuissetis prae ceteris pompis et honoribus et saeculi dignitate, cum gloria excellenti valentes inclito Caesari legitime desponsari, sicut vestrae ac eius excellentiae decuisset, (6) quae omnia respuentes, toto animo et cordis affectu magis sanctissimam paupertatem et corporis penuriam elegistis, (7) sponsum nobilioris generis accipientes, Dominum Iesum Christum, qui vestram virginitatem semper immaculatam custodiet et illaesam. (8) Quem cum amaveritis casta estis, cum tetigeritis mundior efficiemini, cum acceperitis virgo estis. (9) Cuius possibilitas forior, generositas celsior, cuius aspectus pulchrior, amor suavior et omnis gratia elegantior. (10) Cuius estis iam amplexibus astricta, qui pectus vestrum ornavit lapidibus pretiosis et vestris auribus tradidit inaestimabiles margaritas. (11) Et totam circumdedit vernantibus atque coruscantibus gemmis atque vos coronavit aurea corona signo sanctitatis expressa. (12) Ergo, soror carissima-immo domina veneranda nimium, quia sponsa et mater estis et soror Domini mei Iesu Christi, (13) virginitatis inviolabilis et paupertatis sanctissimae vexillo resplendentissime insignita-in sancto servitio confortamini pauperis Crucifixi ardenti desiderio inchoato. (14) Qui pro nobis omnibus crucis sustinuit passionem, eruens nos de potestate principis tenebrarum-qua ob transgressionem primi parentis vincti vinculis tenebamur-et nos reconcilians Deo Patri. (15) O beata paupertas quae diligentibus et amplexantibus eam divitias praestat aeternas! (16) O sancta paupertas, quam habentibus et desiderantibus, a Deo caelorum regnum promittitur et aeterna gloria vitaque beata procul dubio exhibetur! (17) O pia paupertas quam Dominus Iesus Christus qui caelum terramque regebat et regit, qui dixit etiam et sunt facta, dignatus est prae ceteris amplexari! (18) Vulpes enim foveas, inquit, habent et volucres caeli nidos, Filius autem hominis, id est Christus, non habet ubi caput reclinet, sed, inclinato capite, tradidit spiritum. (19) Si, ergo, tantus et talis Dominus in uterum veniens virginalem, despectus, egenus, et pauper in mundo voluit apparere (20) ut homines, qui erant pauperrimi et egeni, caelestis pabuli sufferentes nimiam egestatem, efficerentur in illo divites regna caelestia possidendo, (21) exsultate plurimum et gaudete, repletae ingenti gaudio et laeitia spiritali. (22) Quia-cum vobis magis placuisset contemptus saeculi quam honores; paupertas quam divitae temporales; et magis thesauros in caelo recondere quam in terra (23) ubi nec rubigo consumit, nec tinea demolitur, et fures non effodiunt nec furantur-merces vestra copiosissima est in caelis, (24) et fere digne meruistis soror, sponsa, et mater altissimi Patris Filii et gloriosae Virginis nuncupari. (25) Credo enim firmiter vos novisse quod regnum caelorum nonnisi pauperibus a Domino promittitur et donatur, quia dum res diligitur temporalis fructus amittitur caritatis; (26) Deo et mammonae deservire non posse, quoniam aut unus diligitur et alter odio habetur, et aut uni serviet alterum contemnet; (27) et vestitum cum nudo certare non posse, quia citius ad terram deicitur qui habet unde teneatur; (28) et gloriosum manere in saeculo et illic regnare cum Christo; et quoniam ante foramen acus poterit transire camelus scandere quam dives caelica regna. (29) Ideo abiecistis vestimenta, videlicet divitias temporales, ne luctanti succumbere penitus valeretis, ut per arctam viam et angustam portam possitis regna caelestia introire. (30) Magnum quippe ac laudabile commercium: relinquere temporalia pro aeternis, promereri caelestia pro terrenis, centuplum pro uno recipere, ac beatam vitam perpetuam possidere. (31) Quapropter vestram excellentiam et sanctitatem duxi, prout possum, humilibus precibus in Christi visceribus supplicandam, quaetnus in eius sancto servitio confortari velitis, (32) crescentes de bono in melius, de virtutibus in virtutes, ut cui toto mentis desiderio deservitis, dignetur vobis optata praemia elargiri. (33) Obsecro etiam vos in Domino, sicut possum, ut me vestram famulam, licet inutilem, et sorores ceteras vobis devotas mecum in monasterio commorantes habere velitis in sanctissimis vestris orationibus commendatas, (34) quibus subvenientibus mereri possumus misericordiam Iesu Christi, ut pariter una vobiscum sempiterna mereamur perfrui visione. (35) Valete in Domino et oretis pro me.

Historical context:

Clare's first letter to Agnes of Prague. Clare's first letter was most likely written after Pentecost, June 11, 1234, the day of Agnes's entrance into the monastery at Prague. Elated that Agnes had rejected a marriage to Frederick II in order to embrace the following of the Poor Christ, Clare, who was in her early forties and had entered San Damiano twenty-two years earlier, began her correspondence with the twenty-three year old Agnes. The decision of the royal Bohemian princess to enter the Franciscan Order tipped the balance of power in Europe. Since her childhood Agnes's father, Otakar I, in the hope of advancing his own political agendas, maneuvered a series of marital contracts for his daughter. Frederick II asked for Agnes's hand in the spring of 1228. Pope Gregory IX opposed this union for political reasons. It seems that sometime after his return from Jerusalem in 1231, most probably during 1233, Frederick issued a second request for a marriage with Agnes. Agnes rejected the emperor's proposal, founded a monastery and the Hospital of Saint Francis in Prague and, according to her legend, asked the Friars Minor to instruct her concerning the form of life of the Monastery of San Damiano. Clare's letter is a hymn to the "sacred exchange," the giving of one's goods to the poor in the hope of obtaining both earthly necessities as well as eschatological rewards. Reflecting on the Legend of Saint Agnes of Rome, Clare focuses not so much on Agnes of Rome's bravery in the face of martyrdom as on her fidelity to her bridegroom, the Poor Christ. For possible references to the bible and the Regula breviary in Clare's letters and textual commentary, see Joan Mueller, Clare's Letters to Agnes, Texts and Sources (St. Bonaventure, NY: St. Bonaventure University, 2001).

Scholarly notes:

This translation, from Joan Mueller, Clare's Letters to Agnes, Texts and Sources (St. Bonaventure, NY: St. Bonaventure University, 2001), is included with the generous permission of the author and the press.

Printed source:

Joan Mueller, Clare's Letters to Agnes, Texts and Sources, St. Bonaventure, NY: St. Bonaventure University, 2001), 27-51

Date:

1234