Saint Clare of Assisi: A Sister in Faith

Sherry Hayes-Peirce contemplates Saint Claire as a guide in being a digital missionary and discusses the impact of praying for saintly intercession.

As we celebrate the feast day of Saint Clare, I reflected on my visit to Assisi, Italy, last summer to see the Basilica di Santa Chiara. This would be my second visit to the church built in her honor after her death. On the first visit twenty years ago, skeletal remains contained in a reliquary appeared mummified. There was a sense of reverence in the presence of this blessed woman, and at the time of the first visit, I was a television journalist and prayed for her intercession to guide my career.

Conversely, my recent visit revealed that the previous mask, made of dark brown leather, had been replaced with a silicone, wax-based one. When I peered into the reliquary this time, there was a stronger connection to her personhood; in fact, I felt compelled to step out of line and kneel.

In my mind and limited understanding, the sight of a mummified corpse was disconcerting for me. This time I wasn’t a journalist, but I was doing a presentation on her as one of the patron saints of technology. I wondered why a nun from the thirteenth century would be canonized a saint in 1253 by Pope Alexander IV and then designated patron of television in 1958 by Pope Pius XII.

In reading the book on her cause for canonization, Clare of Assisi: The Lady, I learned that she received consolation from the Lord when she miraculously saw Saint Francis of Assisi presiding at the Midnight Mass projected on the wall of her bedroom while she was too ill to attend.

“Blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ, who did not leave me after you did. In fact, I heard, by the grace of Christ, all those solemnities that were celebrated this night in the church of St. Francis.”

It makes perfect sense that more than 700 years after her death, her vision would reflect a modern-day experience.

Saint Clare, Our Sister in Faith

There was a profound feeling of grace in thinking of how this woman was influenced by Saint Francis of Assisi and inspired to become the foundress of the Poor Clares religious order. One of the nuns from her order, centuries later, Mother Mary Angelica, would launch the largest Catholic Television Network, projecting solemnities from all over the world today. Her vision is an extraordinary example of how a spark from the Holy Spirit can ignite an enduring flame that illuminates the minds, hearts, and spirits of future generations of Catholics.

I was inspired again to ask for the intercession of Saint Clare to guide me as a digital missionary kneeling before the San Domiano cross. On the feast of every saint, we are reminded that we are all called to be saints too.

Allowing ourselves to feel God's presence within us and to let him work through us provides opportunities to be the hands, feet, and voice of the Trinity. Saints are deemed to have lived a life of heroic virtue; they didn’t just battle against sin but also exhibited cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, or temperance. In the case of Saint Clare, she served as a model for the women of her time, a role that remains relevant for women of faith today.

She exhibited prudence through her integration of mind and spirit. As a mystic, she did not detach from the world but sought a deeper, more impactful way to live in it. In her letters, she left a guide outlining a contemplative practice: Gaze, Consider, Contemplate, and Imitate. In her time, she became a model of Catholic social justice in refusing to accept the male-authored monastic rules for her order. She was not radical in her approach, but through her intellect and writings, she wrote new rules for women. In defying the established practice of submitting to an arranged marriage and accepting a life of austerity, she models fortitude. Although Clare was deemed the foundress and leader of her order, she resisted the typical power paradigm, practicing temperance and creating a supportive community of solidarity for the Sisters.

Praying for the intercession of the Saints

The saints are recognized as witnesses who constantly care for and pray for those on earth, with their intercession viewed as a high service to God’s plan. The Church encourages asking for their intercession. (CCC 2635)

Later this month, we celebrate the feasts of Saint Monica and Saint Augustine, as well as other holy men and women who serve as models for living out our faith. We are called to seek the intercession of the saints in prayer:

The witnesses who have preceded us into the kingdom, especially those whom the Church recognizes as saints, share in the living tradition of prayer by the example of their lives, the transmission of their writings, and their prayer today. They contemplate God, praise him, and constantly care for those whom they have left on earth. When they entered into the joy of their Master, they were "put in charge of many things." Their intercession is their most exalted service to God's plan. We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world. (CCC 2683)

Faith Challenge: Write Your Own Prayer for a Saint's Intercession

While there are many beautiful prayers already written to beg the intercession of Saint Clare and many other saints, I challenge you to design your own. I learned many years ago how to use the A-C-T-S model for creating a prayer. Following this model, your prayer should always start with Adoring the Lord, Confessing a weakness or sin that the saint can help you with, Thanksgiving for the model the saint provides for you, and then Supplication: “(saint's name), pray for (us or me).”

Here's the prayer I wrote:

Lord God,

You have ordained that we seek the intercession of the Communion of Saints to help us fulfill your plan for our lives. On the feast of Saint Clare of Assisi, I reflect on her life and pray for her intercession to help me remain humble as I work with other women in ministry, not seeking to shine brighter than my sisters in service, but forging solidarity. May I remember to pray for her intercession in inspiring my writing for Catholicmom.com and my theological studies papers.

I am thankful for the life of this holy woman and her unique model of living for women of her time, which remains relevant today. May Saint Clare guide me to be a model for female digital missionaries and to answer the call to be a saint.

Saint Clare of Assisi, pray for me.

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Copyright 2026 Sherry Hayes-Peirce
Images: Canva