Publishers Weekly
04/13/2020
Murray (A Mended and Broken Heart), a former Time correspondent, offers a revealing glimpse into the life of St. Clare (1194–1253), who was canonized in 1255. When Murray initially came across records of Clare, she considered Clare elusive and difficult to understand, and conflicting accounts of medieval historians left Murray “deciphering the nub of the story beneath the distortions.” During her life, Clare wrote extensively about the joy found in poverty, eternal virginity, and spiritual matrimony. However, Murray also discovered that, after St. Francis was canonized, Clare’s role in narratives about Francis’s life gradually diminished; as a strong woman, she was considered “problematic” by Christian historians and largely forgotten. Despite gaps in Clare’s history, it is known that she was the firstborn daughter of noble lineage and she gave up a life of privilege to follow Francis. In 1212, after Clare gave away her dowry to the poor, she was placed as a servant in the San Paolo commune in Brescia. Clare later moved to the church of San Damiano, where Francis made her abbess, but even with more power she “forged her own path and established her own rules” by creating a women’s Benedictine order. Readers looking for accounts of women pivotal to the growth of Christianity will relish Murray’s welcoming portrait. (July)
From the Publisher
Oversimplification sells, but reality is messy. In Clare of Assisi, Wendy Murray chooses the more difficult but also the more rewarding path, as she did in her life of Saint Francis. She takes her readers along with her on a quest among fragmentary and often conflicting sources, piecing together the life of woman in a time and place radically different from our own—a woman whose passionate faith nevertheless has the power to inspire us today.” —John Wilson, Contributing Editor, Englewood Review of Books “This account of Clare's life befits her name, ‘Light;’ it illuminates a figure who has historically stood in her more-famous friend's shadow. Wendy Murray's presentation of Clare is neither adulatory nor cynical, but shows us a woman who dared great things and endured great difficulties, and became an example to women through the ages.” —Frederica Mathewes-Green, wide-ranging Eastern Orthodox author and speaker
Library Journal
06/01/2020
Asserting that St. Clare's life (1194?-1253) is inseparably linked with St. Francis of Assisi's, Murray (A Mended and Broken Heart) notes that both saints' biographies have been altered to satisfy popular expectations. Her purpose here is to show the evolution of Clare's life on the saint's own terms, which she accomplishes using recent scholarship and primary sources including letters by Clare and the decree canonizing her. The author depicts her as a woman too strong for the church in ongoing battles over maintaining a rule for her religious order (later known as the Poor Clares) committed to an active life and poverty at a time when the popes were forcing religious women to accept the Benedictine rule of cloister supported by generous dowries. Living with an unknown illness for much of her life after the death of Francis, Clare remained obedient to his commitment to counter corruption and opulence in the church. The book also covers political conflicts between the church and secular leaders that affected early Franciscan establishments. VERDICT A fulfilling work meticulously documented for scholars yet accessible for anyone interested in a life of spirituality.—Denise J. Stankovics, Vernon, CT
