1. Read her story
Clare was born into a rich, noble family in Assisi, Italy, more than 800 years ago. When she heard Francis preach about living simply for God, she knew it was the life she wanted. One spring night she left her fine home to give her whole life to God. Other young women soon joined her at the little church of San Damiano, and they became the Poor Clares. Clare lived there for the rest of her life, more than forty years, and led her sisters with great love.
Our picture book tells her story gently for reading aloud, and ends with a simple prayer and three small ways to be a true friend this week. See the book.
2. Make a light-catcher for her name
Clare's name means “light”, and she was a light of faith to everyone who knew her. Make a simple window light-catcher: stick small squares of colored tissue paper onto clear sticky-back plastic (contact paper), cut it into the shape of a star, a lamp or a cross, and hang it in a sunny window.
While you work, talk about how a friend can be a light: someone who makes things brighter for the people around them.
3. Be a true friend
Clare and Francis encouraged each other all their lives. When one of them felt tired or afraid, the other gave courage. Try the three challenges from the end of the book:
- Stay close to a friend who is having a hard day, and let them know you care.
- Keep a promise you have made, even when it turns out to be hard.
- After a quarrel, be the first to say sorry and make up.
Saint Clare's day falls just as many schools start the new year, so it's a good moment to talk about being a friend to someone new.
4. Visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament
Clare loved Jesus in the Eucharist more than anything. Her sisters told how soldiers once climbed the walls of their convent. Clare was too ill to stand, but she had herself carried to the door, lifted up the Blessed Sacrament and prayed, and the soldiers turned away. That's why paintings and statues often show her holding a monstrance, the golden vessel that holds the Blessed Sacrament.
Take your children for a short visit to a church; even five minutes is enough for little ones. Show them the tabernacle and the lamp that burns near it to tell us Jesus is there, then say a quiet prayer together.
5. Keep someone company
When Clare was old and ill, she couldn't go to Christmas Mass with her sisters. The story her sisters told is that, alone in her room, she heard the music and saw the Mass as if she were there. Because of this, Pope Pius XII named her the patron saint of television in 1958. Children love that fact.
Clare knew what it was like to be left out when you're sick. Think of someone who can't get out much, like a grandparent, an elderly neighbor or a sick friend, and keep them company with a visit, a phone call or a drawing in the mail.
6. Live simply for a day
Clare's sisters owned almost nothing, shared everything, and still sang for joy. Choose one simple thing to try as a family: a plain supper of soup and bread, an evening without screens, or picking out toys and clothes in good condition to give away.
7. Write to the Poor Clare sisters
Clare's sisters still pray for the world today, in monasteries across the United States and around the world. Most welcome prayer requests, by mail or through their websites. Help your children draw a picture or write a short note asking the sisters to pray for someone they love. To find a monastery near you, search for “Poor Clare monastery” and your state.
8. Pray together
End the day with the prayer from the book:
Dear God,
You are the truest friend of all. Help me to be a good and loyal friend: to stay close on happy days and hard days, to keep my promises, and to help the people I love be good and brave, the way Saint Clare did. Amen.
For a printable page with this prayer and the three challenges, with tick boxes for the week, download our free Be a Little Saint pages (PDF, opens in a new tab). Saint Clare's page is the last one.
In the classroom or parish
- A friendship lesson for the first weeks of school: read the book, then let each child make a small card for a classmate they'd like to get to know.
- A light-filled window: each child makes a light-catcher, and together they fill a classroom window, a reminder that every one of them can be a light.
- A class letter to the Poor Clares: collect the children's drawings and prayer intentions and send them together.
- A visit to the church: walk the class over for a few quiet minutes with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
More ideas for catechists and teachers are on our parishes and schools page.
