Agnes of Assisi: Sister, Sacrificial Lamb and Saint

Agnes of Assisi: Sister, Sacrificial Lamb and Saint

Sr. Mary Elizabeth Imler, OSF

Franciscan researcher Arnaldo Fortini writes, "One of the most obscure areas (in Franciscan history) is (Clare's) family."[1] To write about Clare's blood sister Catherine, also known as St. Agnes of Assisi, proved the need for sleuthing and speculating. What is written about any medieval woman is scant and even Clare's story is told much in the shadow of Francis. Her sister Catherine, of whom even less is known, is similarly overshadowed by Saint Agnes of Prague, both “soul sisters” to Clare.

Catherine was born in 1197 the middle daughter to Count Favarone and Countess Ortolana di Offreduccio. She was baptized at the diocesan font in the ancient Cathedral of Santa Maria Maggiore and given the name Catherine, probably after St Catherine of Alexandria. She was three years younger than Clare, "tender in age, a sister by flesh and by purity."[2]

Hagiography notes the Offreduccios were a noble family with seven knights in the household. Fortini notes medieval noble families were quite extended and somewhat clannish. The uncle, Monaldo, one of five including Clare's father, was the leader. Francis Therese Downing, O.S.C. suggests the father was not much home as a knight (miles) and where the typically medieval children grew up in a culture of power structures, dominance, and controls.[3]

In 1198, the revolt of the minores in Assisi precipitated all the Pro-Imperial nobility to go into voluntary exile. As a babe in arms, Catherine went with the Offreduccio family to Perugia until returning from exile when she was about eight. Soon after, a third daughter, Beatrice is born. The remainder of Catherine's childhood passed between her father's palace in Assisi near the new San Rufino Cathedral and Sasso Rosso castle on Mount Subasio.[4] Catherine remained with Clare almost the remainder of her adult life at San Damiano, though sometimes leaving for year-long stays to establish other convents of Poor Ladies. This separation gives footing to the woman saint she becomes developing into her own holiness.

St. Clare, Ortulana and St. Agnes Altar piece in the Danvikens Hospital, Sweden (1525)

Blood sisters dare to hold the secret longing of each other's hearts

The two elder siblings were very close.[5] The sisters spent much of their time together even hearing "Francis preach, and they wanted to imitate his example of living a simple life of service. When they told their father that they wanted to live like Francis, he said he would never allow it to happen. (Nonetheless,) they were sure that God was calling them to a new life, exchanging their jeweled belts for knotted ropes."[6] After Easter, at the early age of fifteen, barely two weeks after Clare departed from her family home and through the fruitfulness of Clare's ardent prayers,[7] Catherine follows. Catherine meets up with Clare residing with a group of Beguinage women at Santo Angelo in Panzo. She joined her sister having resolved to share their secret longing to live a life of poverty and penance. There is no mention of Francis in Agnes' decision for a partnership the two sisters schemed about before Clare left home. While Francis offered Clare counsel, imagine Clare assuming the task of “teaching her novice-sister."[8]

"The next day, hearing that (Catherine) had gone off to Clare, twelve men, burning with anger and hiding outwardly their evil intent, ran to the place (and) pretended (to make) a peaceful entrance."[9] Uncle Monaldo, angry at the loss and embarrassment of his brother's two daughters not so much for entering religious life but without dowries, drew his sword to strike his niece, but his arm allegedly withered useless. The other men dragged Catherine out of the Beguinage by her hair, striking and kicking her. Catherine's body reportedly became so heavy and strong as her commitment that her assailants were forced to drop her in a nearby field. Their relatives, purportedly realizing that something divine protected Catherine, allowed the two sisters to remain. "After they departed with a bitter spirit… (Catherine) got up joyfully and, already rejoicing in the cross of Christ for which she had struggled in this first battle, gave herself perpetually to the divine service."[10] Overjoyed at Catherine's heroic resistance to the threats of her pursuers due to the power of Clare's prayers and her resolve, Francis himself cut Catherine’s hair, dressed her in the habit of poverty. Heroic as St. Agnes the martyr, Francis bestowed on Catherine the name Agnes, a trusting Lamb of God. Clare receives her vows. Here the two receive their initial training for creating their new form of life. Agnes fades into Clare's shadow and sees herself as "the lowly and least of Christ's servants."[11]

Escaping the unsuccessful family rescue, Francis moved the two sisters to the rudimentary space of San Damiano that he had repaired by September of 1212. Francis prophesized about this sacred space made holy by the women living within, "…through whose fame and life our heavenly Father will be glorified throughout the church."[12]

In 1214, after the Fourth Lateran Council, Clare reluctantly accepts the title Abbess in the role she had been serving; Agnes is named Vicaress. The following year, Innocent III grants a Privilege of Poverty to San Damiano, and the little community begins to grow rapidly with Benvenuta of Perugia and Pacifica di Guelfuccio, and many other townswomen and friends joining the sisters.

15th Century image of Agnes with outstretched arms bearing a lamb. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Sisters courageously and honestly help shape dreams into reality

A chronology of Francis' life shows that around 1217, Francis was preaching in Florence. As in other situations, his words inspired his listeners. Francis promises assistance to some Benedictine nuns to live as the Poor Ladies and a place was offered for them outside the city walls at Monticelli. In 1219, this group formally asks to find their way to highest poverty and holy unity as “Damianites.” Agnes is chosen to lead the community[13] in this new form of life. It breaks Agnes's heart to leave San Damiano but she responds obediently. Around 1221, Sisters Agnes and Giacoma arrive at Monticelli.

Cardinal Hugolino had visited San Damiano in 1220, and in a subsequent letter called Agnes, “my sister.” This admiration allows Agnes to obtain the same distinguishing Privilege of Poverty granted to San Damiano for Monticelli dated 1222. The fame of the Poor Ladies at San Damiano and Monticelli spreads. In a letter, Agnes writes to Clare[14] as she pours out her soul in a state of "great distress and immense sorrow… beyond measure and almost incapable of speaking, because I am physically separated from you and my other Sisters with whom I had hoped to live and die in this world," she shares that the sisters have received her with great love and joy. This surviving document, touchingly beautiful in its simplicity and affection, clearly demonstrates her love of poverty and her loyalty to Clare's ideals.

Vaulted ceiling in the Basilica of St. Clare highlights St. Clare and her sister, St. Agnes

Sisters hold fierce loyalty to the end

"Under her wise direction at Monticelli…Agnes firmly upheld her sister in her long struggle for the privilege of complete poverty.”[15] From Monticelli, Agnes "supervises other houses including Mantua, Venice, and Padua"[16] after the lifestyle and vision at San Damiano. Following the trail, it seems Agnes may have been a traveling ambassador/consultant in service as an ancilla (handmaid) of the Poor Ladies over as many as twenty years.

Life in these monasteries was harmonious and without factions when in 1253, Agnes is summoned to return to San Damiano to nurse her sister Clare. In Luke Wadding's Annals, all the sisters from Monticelli follow Agnes to San Damiano for Clare's blessing, and the sickly Clare gives them her veil. Later in this same year, Innocent IV confirms Clare's long-hoped-for Rule, and it is brought to her providentially with Agnes at her side.

One can only wonder what all three siblings (youngest sister Beatrice entered San Damiano monastery in 1229 and Ortolana died there in 1238[17]) shared as Agnes assisted at Clare's death. The sisters must have been filled with such grief as to be moved to tears at the thought of her leave-taking. Clare spoke to her sister Agnes, "It is pleasing to God that I depart. But stop crying, because you will come to the Lord a short time after me. And the Lord will console you greatly after I have left you."[18]

The Poor Clare Colettine Community of Marian House of the Holy Spirit in Nottingham[19] historically note in the Legend of Saint Clare (47-8): "The Pope with his retinue come up from Perugia to pray before Clare's dead body the following day."[20] Agnes walks in the funeral procession "with Clare's Vicaress, Benedetta, before the Pope and Cardinals as Clare's body is carried up the steep hill into the city. It may be Agnes' hand that wrote the letter sent to the monasteries telling of Clare's death. It has a stylistic resemblance to her surviving letter and something unbearably intimate in the author's recollection"[21] of Clare.

Agnes at fifty-six years follows her sister into eternity dying of natural causes on November 16, 1253[22], but perhaps more so of sisterly love, grief, and dedication to Clare and their mission. "We may never know the grace that Clare promised to Agnes"[23] embracing Sister Death. However, for a taste of that grace, we hear of "the dance of joy with which the heavenly army and its holy spirits welcomes her…."[24] Regrettably, Agnes' passing was before the recordings of firsthand interviews of people who knew Clare were made by leaders of the church for the Process of Canonization for Clare.

The precious remains of Agnes were placed near Clare's with the body of their mother, and later their younger sister, and other Sisters of the San Damiano foundation in the Basilica of Santa Chiara. God, who favored Agnes with many heavenly manifestations during life, glorified her tomb after death through numerous miracles. The first miracle in the Chronicles records the crowd coming to the wake of Agnes "going up the ladder into the monastery of San Damiano (after Agnes' death)...expecting to receive some spiritual consolation.…Suddenly the iron chain which held the drawbridge got loose, and all the people standing on the ladder fell to the ground. …But with the merits of Saint Agnes, whom those devout people were invoking, they all escaped unhurt."[25] 

Fresco of a clear likeness to St. Agnes of Assisi in the Marian House of the Holy Spirit. Poor Clare Colettines, Nottingham, UK

In the shadows, another Saint is formed

Agnes "matched her sister in devotion to prayer and willingness to endure strict penances"[26] that characterized life at San Damiano. The Chronicles record a profound spiritual vision of Agnes of three crowns revealed to Clare: "One time, while apart from the others, the blessed Clare remained to pray in the silence of the night devotedly kept for prayer. While not far away she saw Agnes at prayer, lifted from the ground in the air, crowned with three crowns by an Angel."[27]

Agnes' life was an example for all the Sisters. She led them in faithfulness to the teachings of Jesus, Francis, and Clare. Agnes distinguished herself to such an eminent degree of virtue that her companions declared she seemed to have discovered a new road to perfection known only to herself. While her holiness remained in the shadow of Clare, Pope Benedict XIV finally canonized her in 1753 during the fifth centenary of St. Clare. "Because a brief word is not able to explain the magnificent perfection of (Agnes's) life, let it be directed to Clare."[28] The church celebrates Agnes's feast in her own right on 16 November. Agnes, a medieval woman, can be a heroine to women today waiting patiently to be recognized in a patriarchal church. Perhaps it is a hopeful sign that now is the time to legitimize women's contribution in and for the church. Agnes, from the shadows, offers alternatives to the culture in which she grew up: empowerment rather than hierarchical power structures, ancilla over dominance, and foot-washing leadership replacing control.

Margaret Carney declared Clare co-founder of the Franciscan movement[29] eight hundred years late. Should Agnes be considered a co-founder of the Clarian tradition as more of her story is known? In the Basilica of Santa Chiara, the four ceiling vaults above the high altar pair Agnes of Assisi with St. Agnes, the martyr. On her other side, perhaps in deference to Agnes of Assisi’s baptismal name the artist paints another virgin martyr, Catherine of Alexandria. This symbolism of sanctity seems to already raise the younger sister on high. The two Offreduccio sisters offer genuine saintly genetic harmony. It is as sisters, Agnes and Clare and the Poor Ladies, manifest real community, a true reflection of Trinitarian life. Agnes shows us a companion in the shadows can be a saint just like the one in the lead. Agnes' prayer like that of Clare and Francis is directed to the Poor Crucified One as Love is willing to suffer; she always responds as one called into service. "There is nothing I cannot do in the One who strengthens me."[30]

Agnes' itinerancy carried the Clarian vision beyond San Damiano. While Clare directed the initial experiment for the formae vitae at San Damiano, Agnes extended it. Under Agnes' leadership, it is no wonder that over time the convent of Monticelli "became hardly less famous than San Damiano itself."[31] Agnes demonstrates an undying loyalty in upholding their lifelong and arduous struggle for seraphic poverty. Agnes imitates Clare, governing with benevolent kindness in the foundational relationship as “sister.” As Abbess, she led with sisterly kindness modeling the practice of virtue attainable to her sisters. “Let (the one elected) also strive to preside over the others more by her virtues and holy behavior than by her office, so that, moved by her example, the sisters may obey her more out of love than out of fear."[32]

In the Franciscan tradition, the meaning of haecceitas—the uniqueness of each person—comes to light. We celebrate goodness made visible in the uniqueness of each sister. The two demonstrate how to respectfully hold the secret longing of another's heart without diminishing the other. Agnes and Clare respond to their distinct call to discipleship. It may even have been their example that brought to life the mutual exchange in the roles of Martha and Mary that Francis describes as essential in his Document on Solitude.[33]

As sisters would be, their relationship is a model that likely started in competition, grew to cooperation and collaboration, and finally into communion. Agnes must have helped shape the sanctity of Clare while growing in her own holiness. And with that same strength, Agnes moved out of her place of comfort without her sister by her side and spreads their vision. Agnes was at home in any space for she made it a "dwelling place with Him."[34] Wrapped in silence and solitude, enclosed yet hospitable to guests, the monastery, as Francis predicted, became a sacramental sign. Within each household, Agnes experiences poverty that creates a tenderness that cherishes each other and the little they have to share.

Agnes’s life, too, reflects another Gospel characteristic. The Good News proclaims how we are all "adopted" daughters and sons[35] with Jesus as the "firstborn."[36] Though Agnes was younger than Clare, both are equally beloved children of God. They each cleave to reality as sisters but greater than blood they are in communion through the "adoption" of and love for their brother Jesus. This is the Franciscan understanding of relationships, fraternitas, where there is not envy but respect, forgiveness, and generativity. "As the younger sister of St. Clare, Agnes had a tough act to follow! But this holy and humble woman faced the very same challenges and created her own unique identity as a child of God." We, too, are all called to “…emulate that kind of spiritual boldness."[37] It is right that Agnes’s holiness is revealed today when the world needs a new model grounded in the reality that we are all sisters and brothers.

Loving Creator God,

To the youth, you have given us

Catherine Offreduccio,

a sister, who humbly follows her vocation manifesting haecceitas.

To the discerning, you have given us

Agnes,

a sacrificial lamb of the Poor Ladies of San Damiano,

living fraternitas with her sister Clare and brother Francis.

To the church, you have given us

Agnes of Assisi,

a saint, ancilla, manifesting genuine communion birthing the reign of God.

Your life is worthy to receive the crown of glory

and for this, we say,

"Pray for us."

Sister Mary Elizabeth Imler OSF presently serves as General Minister of the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart after fourteen years as Vice President for Mission Integration at the University of St Francis, Joliet, Illinois. She holds a Master’s degree in Franciscan Studies from the Franciscan Institute at St. Bonaventure University, and authored The Francis Solitude Experience: A Pilgrim’s Journal. She is a staff member of Franciscan Pilgrimage Programs and previously served two terms as General Minister for her congregation, the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Frankfort, Illinois.