Clare of Montefalco
Augustinian nun and abbess
Feast: 17 August (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Clare was born at Montefalco in Umbria in 1268. At six she followed her sister Giovanna into a hermitage their father had built, where prayer, penance and mortification became her way of conforming herself to Christ's Passion.
The community became the Monastery of the Cross under the Rule of St Augustine. When Giovanna died, Clare, then 23, succeeded her as abbess and proved a woman of enlightened firmness. Known as Clare of the Cross, she burned with love for the Passion of Christ, and many miracles were recorded through her intercession.
The miracles
The Dicastery's biography does not describe the miracles approved in the cause.
Why that counted as sanctity
An Augustinian abbess who conformed her whole life to the Cross of Christ.
- Dicastery for the Causes of Saints - biography: Chiara da Montefalco
- Wikidata Q271780 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Clare of Montefalco (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.