Clare of Assisi (1194-1253) was one of the most influential women in the early medieval period of Roman Catholic church history. A follower of Francis of Assisi, Clare founded her own order, the Poor Clares, based on his tenets of charity and humility. She is thought to be the first woman in the history of the church to write her own rule, or guidelines for the religious life of her order.

Of Noble Italian Birth

Clare was born Chiara Offreduccio di Favaronne in Assisi, a hillside town in central Italy, in July of 1194. She was the eldest daughter in an affluent, landowning Umbrian family that had links to the Roman nobility of the past. Her father was Favorino Scifi, count of Sasso-Rosso, and her mother Ortolana also hailed from an aristocratic lineage. Growing up, Clare lived at both her family's villa in Assisi and a castle on the...