Blessed Clare of Rimini

Rebroadcast of the long running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour", a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org

Blessed Clare of Rimini – Born at Rimini in Italy about the year 1300, Clare lost her mother when she was but seven years old, and because her father could not devote much time and attention to the training of the vivacious girl, she grew up into maidenhood in a frivolous rather than in a Christian manner.

As a young woman, Blessed Clare of Rimini gave herself up so completely to worldly pleasures, that the few religious exercises she still practiced were a mere formality, external functions without any devotion or Christian motive. She married a man who was also a perfect child of the world.

Then, one day, as she attended holy Mass in a Franciscan church, and was gazing about in her usual distracted way, she suddenly felt an inward urge to pray at least one Our Father with devotion. She yielded to this impulse of grace, and lo, in the course of the prayer her soul was so enlightened as to show her the very sad state in which she was living.