By: Christine Morgan
This installment in our Holy Anorexia series is all about the incomparable Clare of Assisi! She is the earliest example of holy anorexia in this series so we can consider her the OG, #nobigdeal.
While Clare’s life and works as a woman of faith are very impressive, her childhood is also a textbook trigger for this woman who would starve herself for a taste of autonomy. She also falls well within the established framework of having a family who were considered part of the noble class, a background which many holy anorexics share. While Clare’s abstinence from food and other comforts is hardly the most dramatic (see Catherine of Siena) or the most famous (see Joan of Arc) she can be credited with creating a space for religious women and setting the standard for her sisters in Christ for generations to come. Without her, there may never have been a Holy Anorexia series for Queens Podcast- can you imagine?!
“While Clare’s life and works as a woman of faith are very impressive, her childhood is also a textbook trigger for this woman who would starve herself for a taste of autonomy.”
Clare of Assisi was born to a noble Italian family in 1193 or 1194 (why write it down, amirite?). Her father was a knight, a pillar of the chivalric culture. The family owned several castles and estates in the Assisi region and early in Clare’s life, unsustainable wealth gaps and religious tensions in Assisi became the roots of violent uprisings, which forced the nobility (including Clare’s family) to flee while their familial homes were burned to the ground. For about three years, from the age of 9-12, Clare and her family were refugees in Perugia until it was safe to return and rebuild. Don’t you just love to see history repeating itself? Just kidding, that never happens.
Before her conversion, Clare showed signs of holy anorexia in her early teenage years, often giving her daily meals to the poor. She also wore rough tunics under her fine dresses and gave alms to the Franciscan monks in the area. She was known in Assisi as a woman of honor and famously believed that there was privilege in poverty, a concept that eventually became her personal motto. Now as we look at those habits, it’s easy to wonder if Clare gave food to the poor with the (subconscious) hope they would not rise up against her family again? Could this old trauma be more of a reason for her holy anorexia than even she realized? Was this particular woman’s anorexia a survival method? Gahhh so many questions, so little time!
Clare’s life changed when she was 17 and received a marriage proposal from a local knight. She refused his offer and to his credit, he did not force the marriage and moved on. We love to see it. Around this time, Clare was inspired by the preaching of Francis of Assisi and snuck away from home to meet with him one-on-one. Trust me, these private meetings have me sipping tea like it’s none of my business, too.
Ultimately, Francis’ lessons convinced Clare that religious life was the right path for her. In an act of teenage defiance, she escaped from her home and met Francis in a church where he shaved her head and then sent her to a church just outside of Assisi. When her family realized what she’d done, they traveled to the church and attempted to physically drag her home! The story goes that Clare clung to an altar cloth as they pulled her, and her family only gave up when they realized her hair was gone and they had no way to marry her off. (Editor’s Note: umm…. did they not realize hair grew back in the 13th century?)
“Could this old trauma be more of a reason for her holy anorexia than even she realized? Was this particular woman’s anorexia a survival method?”
Clare is credited with being the founder of the Order of Enclosed Ladies and the Order of Poor Ladies, which sound more like drunken Zoom calls in 2020 than medieval religious orders.
Following her conversion, Clare gave her inheritance to the poor and continued to fast, now in an extreme way. Initially, her fasting days were Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On those days she ate nothing but on other days she had bread, water, and communion. Eventually, she became so ill that her mentor, Francis of Assisi, insisted she eat half a roll and drink water even on her fasting days. Clare also continued to wear rough tunics made from horsehair or boar’s hide. If she saw a sister whose clothing was somehow worse than her own, she would insist on trading tunics. At night she slept on a bed reportedly made out of vines and twigs. Like, give everyone else a chance, woman! You can’t have all the holy misery!
In her time, Clare is said to perform several miracles. But unsurprisingly, Clare is associated with food miracles such as the multiplication of food to feed the poor. Her evenings were spent in prayer (read: sleep deprivation) and her sisters reported that when she was done praying her face was often bright, sweet, and clear- a skincare challenge worthy of BuzzFeed. One sister reported that she saw a small child sitting in Clare’s lap and believed it was the baby Jesus. Another testified that she saw glorious wings attached to Clare, which sometimes covered her head during prayers. This is an unusual series of claims, though because they don’t involve Clare doing something miraculous. Instead, she is so holy that others see elements of Heaven around her. Arguably this sounds like a hyped-up version of aura reading for medieval women. “Clare, you’re looking very golden today!”
Clare of Assisi died in 1253 at the age of either 59 or 60, a very impressive age for the subset of medieval holy anorexics. Notably, Clare is known to have discouraged her sisters who attempted to mimic her fasting habits, perhaps realizing she was too ill to do the good works she wanted to do. Some sisters reported seeing a brilliant light around Clare as she passed away. Ultimately, Francis of Assisi (Clare’s holy BFF) would also become a saint. Together they created spaces for religious women and established Orders that spread around the world, which emphasize the privilege of poverty. Not too shabby for a noblewoman whose birthday no one thought to write down!
Recommended Reading/Citations: A Companion to Clare of Assisi: Life, Writings, and Spirituality by Joan Mueller
You can follow Christine on Twitter at @msChristineMo
And her YouTube series The Untitled History Project is literally the best.