Clare was lying or her death bed; tired, weak, happy… She knew it was time to leave her life on earth and she was excited. Her heart was pounding with joy because she would soon meet the Eternal, but then all of a sudden she started feeling sad, thinking about how many people – knowing that they led a turbulent and sinful life – live their final moments in fear. She regretted not being able to console and help them find faith.
Her sisters were surrounding her like in a trance, in a small cell of the Monastery of S. Damiano, without speaking a word. During that warm summer day, the Monastery was shrouded in a surreal silence. Birds, dogs, and animals in the courtyards were silent, even the wind seemed to have stopped howling in respect. From her bed Clare was reliving all her quests, first with Francis to establish the Order of Friars Minor, then alone – after mentor’s death – with the female order. She still had one regret, though: despite all her efforts, she would not live to see the Franciscan Rule approved for female cloisters. She begged the Pope many times, but he never listened. A thought that tormented her, upsetting her joyful passing. It made her feel incomplete.
But suddenly the surreal silence of her cell was broken by a faraway rumble. As the sound was approaching, it was clear it was the galloping of steeds and the woody noise of a carriage running towards S. Damiano. Once it reached the Cloister there was a lot of yelling which lasted for a few minutes and then it abruptly stopped. The door to Clare’s cell opened to reveal on its threshold Pope Innocent IV in person, holding a parchment with two dangling lead seals. It was the Solet Annuere Sedet seal, with which the Pontiff recognised and ratified in full her Rule for the cloister. He was in the City on a pastoral visit and wanted to notify the nun in person. He gave her the parchment and inquired about her health. He rejoiced that he made it on time and he left, giving everybody his blessing. It was august 1253. Clare passed away soon afterwards. Her body was carried in procession and buried under the Church of Saint George, closer the city walls.
in 1893 the abbess Matilde Rossi, found that very seal on the body of the Saint which had been exhumed a few decades earlier. The document was then placed in the crypt of the Basilica of Saint Clare as a relic.
Construction of the Basilica began in 1257, two years after the canonisation of Clare, and it was designed to incorporate the Church of Saint George, where – besides Clare’s – the remains of Francis where kept. In 1263 the female Franciscan order of the Poor Clares was universally recognised and in 1265, after the solemn inauguration ceremony officiated by Pope Clement IV, Clare’s sisters moved in, after living for 40 years in the cloister of S. Damiano.
The architectural style is very similar to the Basilica of Saint Francis‘, built in the same period. The most evident differences with the “sister” Basilica built at the opposite end of the old city, lie in the external decorations – in the typical white and pink Monte Subasio Stone – and the lateral flying buttresses. These lateral arches, added at a later stage to improve stability, give the church its unmistakable look. It also boats the highest belfry in Assisi
Inside the church you can admire the Chapel of Saint Agnes, who was Clare’s blood and spiritual sister, and the Chapel of Saint George, which is what is left of the small church where the remains of the two Saints of Assisi were kept. Above the altar, the San Damiano Cross, whose history is inextricably linked with the lives of saints. The cross was brought from the Church of S. Damiano to the Basilica of Saint Clare when the nuns moved in because of its very special value. It was the first cross to talk to the young Francis when he asked God what to do with his life. “Vade Francisce, repara domum meam!”; “Go Francis, repair my home” was the answer which the youth did not understand completely. He sold some belongings to renovate the small crumbling church. Only later he realised that the “home” of the Lord that he was asked to repair was not a building, but Christianity in its entirety.
The cross dates back to the XII Century, before Giotto and Cimabue‘s realism. What the artist wanted to convey with the gaze and posture of Christ are not so much the pain and suffering of a deity that became human, but rather the glory and grandiosity of the gesture that he made for his “sons”. It is said that the cross was painted on a flat board before the Revelation. When he spoke to Francis, the head of Christ “detached” from the table and stretched towards him, obtaining the “three-dimensional”, embossed look that we see today. Actually, we know that painting faces on relief was a rather common technique at the time.
In the left transept we can find one of the most significant works in the Basilica: la Table of Saint Clare, painted a few years after her death, where she is represented in Byzantine style surrounded by eight scenes representing her spiritual life, including the ones mentioned in the introduction. Can you spot them?
Along with the “sister” table Madonna della Cortina, displayed in the right side of the transept, the two works are recognised as painted by a mysterious anonymous artist called the Master of Santa Chiara.
In 1850, after finding Saint Francis’ tomb, the pope ordered to search for Saint Clare’s remains also. A “sixteen spans deep” tunnel was dug and her tomb was found. A rough travertine sarcophagus tied with an iron strap. Today the tunnel and the crypt that was built around the sepulchre can be visited. Besides the tomb – consisting in a crystal and Subasio stone urn on which the relic body lays, dressed in the original tunic and containing the remains of the Saint – it is possible to visit another area with many more relics on display, including the famous Papal Bill. The paper document has been replaced with a faithful copy to avoid deterioration, but the original frame and seals remain.