St. Clare of Assisi (1194-1253) left relatively few writings behind; four brief letters to Bl. Agnes of Prague and a Rule for the sisters of San Damiano are all that are of undisputed authenticity. Three other texts—her last testament, blessing, and a letter to Ermentrude of Bruges—are strongly contested. It is not much either way; the entirety of her literary output can be read in a single sitting.
Even so, what little she has left behind is extraordinarily rich. Clare shared the spirituality of the Seraphic Father, St. Francis, and like him was overflowing with the joy of God’s goodness. One of the very Franciscan qualities of Clare’s writing is her tendency to break into spontaneous poetry. Like Francis, the Spirit of God dwelt so richly in her soul that it seems she could scarcely contain it.
In Clare’s brief corpus of writings, we find eight poems (or hymns). All eight can be found within her letters to Bl. Agnes of Prague, the princess of Bohemia who rejected a life of royalty to become a religious sister and abbess in Prague. Clare considered Agnes her spiritual daughter and wrote her four letters between 1234 and 1253 offering advice and encouragement in spiritual matters. Though any cadence or rhyme are obviously lost in the translation of these texts from Latin to English, we can nevertheless still get a sense of the beauty and spiritual sensitivity of this marvelous soul as expressed through her poetry. (1)
The First Letter to Bl. Agnes of Prague
Clare’s first letter to Agnes was written in 1234, before Agnes had entered the religious life. This letter contains three poems, two written to encourage Agnes to persevere in her resolution to take vows and not be dissuaded by the pressure of her royal family, and another lauding the practice of poverty.
The first poem appears early in the letter, after Clare reminds Agnes that by taking vows, she will be wed to the most noble spouse possible. Agnes had been considered as a bride to Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and Clare wishes to remind her that betrothal to Christ is more excellent:
When you have loved [Him], you shall be chaste;
When you have touched [Him], you shall become pure;
When you have accepted [Him], you shall be a virgin.
Whose power is stronger,
Whose generosity is more abundant,
Whose appearance more beautiful,
Whose love more tender,
Whose courtesy more gracious.
In whose embrace you are already caught up;
Who has adorned your breast with precious stones
And placed priceless pearls in your ears
And has surrounded you with sparkling gems
As through blossoms of springtime
And placed on your head a golden crown
As to sign to all of your holiness.
The second poem follows almost immediately upon the first, wherein Clare encourages Agnes to not fear the loss of worldly prestige but to imitate Jesus Christ in the practice of poverty:
O blessed poverty, who bestows eternal riches on those who love and embrace her!
O holy poverty, to those who possess and desire you God promises the kingdom of heaven and offers, indeed, eternal glory and blessed life!
O God-centered poverty, whom the Lord Jesus Christ, who ruled and now rules heaven and earth, who spoke and things were made, condescended to embrace before all else!
Clare then speaks at length about the Kingdom of God promised to those who renounce the world. She discusses the concept of “exchange,” a prominent theme in early Franciscan circles—the detachment and resignation of worldly ambition is not a loss but an exchange, in which God entrusts one with spiritual goods in exchange for letting go of temporal goods. In her third poem, Clare dwells on this subject of the divine exchange:
What a great laudable exchange:
To leave the things of time for those of eternity,
To choose the things of heaven for the goods of earth,
To receive the hundred-fold in place of one
And to possess blessed and eternal life.
The Second Letter to Bl. Agnes of Prague
The second letter of Clare to Agnes was written a few years into Agnes’ profession, between 1235 and 1239. Its original title was “Concerning the Strong Perseverance in a Good Proposal.” Clare’s purpose in this letter seems to be offering Agnes gentle motivation in persevering in her commitment to holy poverty. Her first poem is prefaced by the following encouragement: “One thing alone is necessary (Luke 10:42). I bear witness to that one thing, for love of Him to Whom you have offered yourself as a holy and pleasing sacrifice that, like another Rachel, you always remember your resolution and be conscious of how you began.” The poem then follows, continuing the theme of perseverance:
What you hold, may you [always] hold.
What you do may you [always] do and never abandon.
But with swift pace, light step,
and unswerving feet,
so that even your steps stir up no dust,
Go forward
securely, joyfully, and swiftly,
On the path of prudent happiness,
believing nothing,
agreeing with nothing,
which would dissuade you from this resolution
or which would place a stumbling block for you on the way,
So that you may offer your vows to the Most High
In the pursuit of that perfection
To which the Spirit of the Lord has called you.
A few words stressing obedience follow, then another brief poem stressing the incomparable rewards of heavenly glory for those who patiently bear the sufferings of this world:
If you suffer with Him, you shall reign with Him,
if you weep with Him, you shall rejoice with Him;
if you die with Him, on the cross of tribulation,
you shall possess heavenly mansions in the splendor of the saints
and in the Book of Life, your name shall be called glorious among men.
The Third Letter to Bl. Agnes of Prague
The third letter was written in 1238 in response to a clarification requested of Clare by Agnes concerning fasting and abstinence. In 1237, Pope Gregory IX had mandated that Agnes’ community observe the total and perpetual abstinence from meat practiced by the Cistercians, but Agnes wished to follow a Rule similar to Clare’s at San Damiano, which was not as severe and allowed meat on occasion. Pope Gregory denied Agnes’ request. Clare’s letter to Agnes is encouraging Agnes to persevere despite this disappointing setback. This letter contains one poem, reminding Agnes that through her penance she is beautifying her soul for eternity—and that the most desirable food is not any worldly meats, but the “hidden sweetness” tasted by the friends of Jesus:
Place your mind before the mirror of eternity!
Place your soul in the brilliance of glory!
Place your heart in the figure of the divine substance!
And transform your whole being into the image of the Godhead itself through contemplation!
So that you too may feel what His friends feel as they taste the hidden sweetness which God Himself has reserved
from the beginning
for those who love Him.
The Fourth Letter to Bl. Agnes of Prague
A long time passed bewteen Clare’s third and fourth letters, around sixteen years. By the time the fourth letter was written in 1253, Agnes was a mature and wise abbess and St. Clare was on her deathbed. Clare reassures Agnes that the long interlude in correspondence was not due to any lessening of affection, but rather to “the lack of messengers and obvious difficulty of the roads” between Assisi and Prague. In this final letter, Clare is reaching the end of her earthly journey and wishes to set before Agnes the vision of the heavenly Jerusalem, to remind her of the end purpose of all her tribulations. Clare includes two poems in this final letter. The first, a paean to the power and beauty of Christ:
Happy, indeed, is she to whom it is given to share this sacred banquet,
To cling with all her heart to Him
Whose beauty all the heavenly hosts admire unceasingly,
Whose love inflames our love,
Whose contemplation is our refreshment,
Whose graciousness is our joy,
Whose gentleness fills us to overflowing,
Whose remembrance brings a gentle light,
Whose fragrance will revive the dead,
Whose glorious vision will be the happiness,
of all the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem.
The final poem is a cry of ecstatic praise, its verbiage paraphrased from the Song of Songs. She prays that Agnes may cry out:
Draw me after you!
We will run in the fragrance of your perfumes,
O heavenly spouse!
I will run and not tire,
until You bring me into the wine cellar,
until Your left hand is under my head,
and Your right hand will embrace me happily
and you will kiss me with the happiest kisses of Your mouth.
“In this contemplation,” Clare continues, “may you remember your poor little mother, knowing that I have inscribed the happy memory of you indelibly on the tablets of my heart, holding you dearer than all the others. What more can I say? Let the tongue of the flesh be silent when I express my love for you, and let the tongue of the spirit speak.”
A few months later, St. Clare woud be dead. Bl. Agnes, almost twenty years Clare’s junior, would live on another three decades, passing away in 1282 to join in spiritual mother in beholding the beautiful Lord whom they both so ardently desired to see.
(1) These English translations were made by Regis Armstrong, O.F.M. CAP. and Ignatius Brady, O.F.M. and can be found in the text Francis and Clare: The Complete Works (Paulist Press: New York, 1982), pp. 190-206
Phillip Campbell, “The Poetry of St. Clare,” Unam Sanctam Catholicam, Nov. 11, 2025, available online at https://unamsanctamcatholicam.com/2025/11/the-poetry-of-st-clare