Saint Clare of Montefalco

By: Bob and Penny Lord

Narrated by: Bob and Penny Lord

The funeral mass was celebrated on Sunday the 18th. The preacher, a Franciscan Priest from Bevagna, instead of giving the homily he had prepared, found himself delivering the most extraordinary eulogy, extolling Clare’s sanctity and selfless giving to all who came, never counting the cost. As the words poured from his lips, they became his, and he found himself realizing the gift the father had given him; he was eulogizing a saint. His brother Franciscans meanwhile looked away, disapprovingly. They were blinded and deafened by the anger they harbored at having been ordered to be here in the first place. It turned out they were here only out of obedience to Clare’s brother Francesco, their Chaplain. And so, they, too, had been called to share in a gift, but their "No!" robbed them of it.

That evening, the nuns opened her heart, preparing it to place in a Reliquary. To their amazement, Saint Clare of Montefalco’s words came alive; there before them were the marks of Jesus' passion! Cradled inside the softness of her grand heart was the perfect form of Jesus crucified, even to the crown of thorns clearly evidenced on his head, and the lance wound in his precious side. The Lord had not only planted his crucified body within the recesses of her heart, but the painful evidence of some of his sufferings, the means of flagellation in a form of ligaments or tendons, the whip that was used to scourge our beloved Lord, with the ends showing the metal balls and the jagged bones used to rip our Lord’s skin from his bones.

The news of this miracle spread! As my husband says, "Tell an Italian and you tell the world." (Author’s note: I’m Italian. Mother Angelica is Italian. We’re trying to tell the whole world. Maybe that’s what a Christian is supposed to do.) The following Monday, an old adversary, Fra Pietro di Salomone, made his way to the Vicar of the diocese of Spoleto, Msgr. Berengario. He denounced the nuns, claiming their findings were willfully misrepresented.

On Tuesday, Monsignor left for Montefalco. Upon arriving there, he immediately called together theologians, lawyers, and doctors. The heart was carefully investigated, and they all unanimously concluded that the "marks" were not of an explainable scientific nature or of human understanding, in other words, a phenomena, or as we are so happy to say, God leaving another miracle in our midst. There was not only a document drawn by the church and affirmed by science, but the civil authorities did their own investigation and issued their findings. The heart of Clare did in fact contain this extraordinary sign and it was not the result of any false doings.

Another phenomena, or as we prefer to call it, miraculous sign, was the finding of three stones inside her bladder. When the nuns further investigated, they discovered in the gall bladder three gall stones the size of large hazelnuts perfectly equal in size, color, shape, and weight. They were found to weigh all the same, one weighing as much as two, two as three, one as three. The sisters at the shrine tell us this sign was left to show the love Clare had for the blessed trinity. But we wonder if it was not also, possibly to explain the blessed trinity as much as the triune God can be explained. One person equal to each of the other two persons, as well as equal to the two combined of the other persons of the trinity. In the sign left by the Lord, in the body of Saint Clare of Montefalco, the three weighed the same as one, the two as one, the one as two or as three, all equal. Coincidence?

©1991 Journeys of Faith (P)1991 Journeys of Faith