Why St. Francis told St. Colette to reform the Poor Clares

Often it happens that a saint founds a religious order and then generations go by, and that same religious order is no longer living the charism of the founder with great zeal.

Such was the case with the Poor Clares, who were founded by St. Francis and St. Clare in the 13th century.

By the 14th century the Poor Clares had greatly relaxed their rules under Pope Urban IV, and were known as "Urbanists," rather than Poor Clares. They were not living a life of poverty and prayer as they were originally founded.

At the same time, a young woman named Colette was feeling drawn to the religious life. Initially she joined the Third Order of St. Francis, but was not satisfied living as a lay woman in the world.

She was at first prompted to live as a hermit, but it was difficult for her to restrain her great zeal and live a secluded life. St. Colette then joined a Poor Clare monastery at Amiens in France.

It was at this time that many traditions claim St. Francis of Assisi appeared to St. Colette in a vision, asking her to reform the Poor Clares.

Many were resistant to her efforts to reform their way of life and to recall the Poor Clares to the original charism of St. Francis and St. Clare.

This made her frustrated with the Poor Clares, and she even wondered whether the order should be dissolved instead of revived.

However, she turned to the local leader of the Church in France, who was technically an "anti-pope" (one of several disputed candidates who claimed the papacy at various times), but who still ruled the local Church with authority.

The Catholic Encyclopedia explains that Colette "turned to the antipope, Benedict XIII (Pedro de Luna), then recognized by France as the rightful pope. Benedict allowed her to enter to the order of Poor Clares and empowered her by several Bulls, dated 1406, 1407, 1408, and 1412 to found new convents and complete the reform of the order. With the approval of the Countess of Geneva and the Franciscan Henri de la Beaume, her confessor and spiritual guide, Colette began her work at Beaume, in the Diocese of Geneva."

Her work was successful in many parts of France and has continued on up until the present day. There exist many monasteries of Poor Clare Colettine nuns in the United States and throughout the world, who follow the rule that St. Colette established.