Form of Life Given to Saint Clare and Her Sisters

This brief rule represents Francis of Assisi's attempt to provide formal guidance for the community of women religious that formed around Clare of Assisi at San Damiano. Written between 1212 and 1226, it emerged from the practical necessity of governing the Poor Ladies, as Clare's community was initially known, within the structures of medieval ecclesiastical law while preserving the radical poverty that defined early Franciscan spirituality.

The form of life establishes the fundamental commitment to absolute poverty as the cornerstone of religious observance, forbidding the community from owning property either individually or collectively. Francis structures the rule around obedience to Christ through evangelical poverty, requiring that the sisters live entirely from alms and the work of their hands. The text emphasizes enclosure not as separation from the world but as a means of total dedication to prayer and penance. Francis weaves together practical governance with spiritual vision, addressing everything from the reception of new members to the care of the sick while maintaining that material deprivation opens space for spiritual abundance.

This rule established a precedent for women's religious communities seeking to embrace the most radical elements of gospel living within medieval church structures. Though Clare herself would later write her own rule that superseded Francis's text, his form of life demonstrates the early Franciscan conviction that authentic Christian discipleship requires complete material renunciation. Those drawn to understanding the intersection of mystical spirituality and practical poverty should read this work, as should anyone studying the development of women's religious life in the medieval period. Readers seeking devotional inspiration rather than historical insight into radical religious economics may find the text too austere and institutionally focused.