POOR
251
POOR
Agostiniani. IV (Bologna, 1675). 545, 607; William of Puv-
Laurent in Recueil des hist, des Gaules el de la France, XIX, 200;
PeUr of Vaux-Cemay, ibid., XIX, 10; Chron. Urspergense in
Mo7i. Germ. Hisl.: Script., XXIII, 367, ad an. 1212.
J. B. PlERRON.
Poor Child Jesus, Sisters of the, a congregation founded at Aachen in 1844 for the support and educa- tion of poor, orphan, and destitute children, especially girls; approved bv Pius IX in 1862 and 1869, and by- Leo XIII in ISSi and ISSS. Clara Fey, Leocadia Startz, Wilhelmina Istas, and Aloysia Vossen were at Bchool together at Aachen; they were the co-foun- dresses of the congregation. The home of Clara Fey was a rendezvous for priests and earnest-minded laity for the discussion of religious and social questions. In February, 1837, Clara and some companions rented a house, gathered together some children, fed, clothed, and taught them. .Soon the old Dominican convent was secured and, with other houses, opened as schools. After seven years of rapid progress the four foundresses entered upon community Hfe 2 Feb., 1844, under the rule and direction of Clara Fey (b. 11 April, 181.5; d. 8 May, 1.894). Fifty children were housed with the com- munity, and several hundreds attended the day schools. In 1845 Card. Geissel of Cologne approved the rules and obtained recognition from the Holy See, whilst the Prussian Government also authorized the foundation. An old convent in Jakobstrasse became the first mother-house of the new order. The growth was rapid, and in quick succession houses were opened at Bonn, Dcrendorf, Dusseldorf, Neuss, Cologne, Co- blenz, Landstuhl, Luxemburg, Stolberg, and Vienna.
The need of providing funds for the original work of rescue, as well as the entreaties of bishops, led to other activities being undertaken, e. g. high schools for girls, training of domestics, homes for girls in busi- ness, modelling of wax figures for statues, and notably church embroidery. For the latter, designs were furnished by Pugin at the instance of Mrs. Edgar, an English resident of Aachen, and the exquisite needle- painting of the sisters became famed throughout Ger- many and the neighbouring countries. The house at Burtscheid (Aachen) became, and still remains, the German secretariate of the society of the Holy Child- hood. In twenty years the number of houses had grown to twenty-five, with 450 sisters. Invaluable advice and assistance were afforded the order by Bishop Laurent, Vicar Apostolic of Luxemburg, and by Pastor .Sartorius of Aachen, who with Father Andreas Fey, a brother of Clara, acted as spiritual director and confessor. After the Franco-Prussian war, the devotion of the sisters in nursing the sick and wounded was rewarded by an autograph letter from the emperor and decorations for many sisters. The influence of the empress delayed the ex-pulsion of the congregation during the Kulturkampf until 1875, when steps were taken to close the houses in Prussia; but not until 1878 was the mother-house at Aachen transferred to Simpelveld, a few miles over the Dutch frontier. There Bishop Laurent, who had resigned his see, took up his residence, and remained as counsellor until his death in 1.8.84. The exiles found refuge in Holland, Bavaria, Belgium, Luxemburg, and Austria. In England a house was established in 1876 at Southam, where an orphanage was immediately opened by the ten exiles who arrived there. This community now numbers over forty sisters with orphanage, day and boarding schools, and a school of embroidery.
The relaxation of the Falk Laws enabled the congre- gation in 1887 to regain many of its convents. At the present time (1911) the total number of houses is 38, with over 2000 sisters engaged in a variety of chari- table and educational oecupation.s, with thousands of children of every cla.ss.
The range of work is wide : seminaries for teachers as at Maastricht, Ehrenfeld, Brussels ; high schools
(boarding and day), Godesberg, Dusseldorf, Vienna,
Roermond, Maastricht, Brussels, Borsbeeck, Antwerp,
Plappeville etc.; domestic training at many houses;
embroidery at Simpelveld, Aachen, Brussels, Land-
stuhl, Southam, Vienna (Dobhng); elementary
schools and orphanages at most houses. The mother
general resides at Simpelveld, the mother-house and
chief novitiate, with pro^vincials for Austria and Hol-
land. The constitutions aim at promoting a simplicity
of character and joyful spirit in imitation of the Child
Jesus born in poverty. The twentj-fifth of each
month is a day of special devotion before the Crib,
the nineteenth in honour of St. Joseph, the chief
patron, Guardian of the Poor Child; and the secon-
dary patron is St. Dominic.
PfClf, Mutter Clara Fey Vom Armen Kinde Jesus (Freiburg, 1907) ; Mutter Clara (Simpelveld. 1910) ; Heimbucher, Die Orden und Kongregationen (Paderborn, 1897).
Walter Hofler.
Poor Clares (Poor Ladies, Sisters of St. Clare), the Second Order of St. Francis. The sub- ject will be treated here under the following heads: I. Beginnings at San Damiano; II. Rule of Ugolino; III. Definitive Rule of St. Clare; IV. Spread of the Order; V. Colettine Reform; VI. In England and America; VII. Mode of Life; VIII. Saints and Blessed of the Order; IX. Present Status.
I. In the great Franciscan movement of the thir- teenth century an important part was played by this order of religious women, which had its beginning in the convent of San Damiano, Assisi. When St. Clare (q. V.) in 1212, following the advice of St. Francis (q. v.), withdrew to San Damiano, she was soon sur- rounded by a number of ladies attracted by the holi- ness of her life. Among the first to join her were sev- eral immediate relatives, including her sister Agnes, her mother, aunt, and niece. Thus was formed the nucleus of the new order. Here St. Clare became the counsellor of St. Francis and after his death remained the supreme exponent of the Franciscan ideal of pov- erty. "This ideal was the exaltation of the beggar's estate into a condition of spiritual liberty, wherein man would live in conscious dependence upon the providence of God and the good will of his fellow- men" (Cuthbert, "The Life and Legend of the Lady St. Clare", p. 4). At the outset St. Clare received from St. Francis a "formula vita;" for the growing com- munity. This was not a formal rule, but simply a di- rection to practise the counsels of the Gospel (Sera- phica; legislationis textus originales, p. 62). "Vivere secundum perfect ionem sancti Evangelii " was the key- note of St . Francis's message. On behalf of the sisters, St. Clare petitioned Innocent III for the "privilege" of absolute poverty, not merely for the individual members but for the community as a whole. Highly pleased with the unusual request he granted it, says the saint's biographer, with his own hand "cum hilari- tate magna" ("Rom. Quart alschrift", 1902, p. 97; see, however, Robinson, "Life of St. Clare", note 114).
II. In 1217 an event occurred which proved to be of first importance in the development of the new com- munity. In that year Ugolino, Cardinal - BLshop of Ostia, was sent to Tuscany as Apostolic delegate; he formed a warm attachment for St. Francis, and soon became the confidant and ad\'iserof the seraphic doc- tor in all things relating to the second Order ("Ana- lecta Franciscana", III, p. 686). Concerning the manner of life of the religious who gathered in various places imitating the example of the community at San Damiano we have only the account given by Jacques de Vitry in 1216 and the letters of Ugolino to Hono- rius III in 1218. The former speaks of women who dwell in hospices in community life and support them- selves by their own labour. Ugolino writes that many women have renounced the world and desired to es- tablish monasteries where they would live in total poverty with no possessions except their houses. For
