182 ST. CIONIA of tbo early persecutions. Represented (1) being killed with a sword; (2) crowned with thorns, and holding a lUy, — near her a cross and a skull. Guene- bault, Diet Icon. St. Cionia (l), July 3, M. at Constan- tinople; supposed in the time of the Emperor Yalens. AA.SS, St. Cionia (2), Chionia, etc. {See AOAPE.) St. Cipia, perhaps St. Coppa. St. Ciwg, Kew. St. Clara (l), Gegobeuga. St. Clara (2) or Chiara, Aug, 12, V. <!. 11 92-1 253, called the Seraphic Mother. First nun of the 2nd O.S.F., known as Olarissans. Patron of the O.S.F. ; of Iglesias, in Sardinia ; of gilders, em- broiderers, washerwomen, and ironers. Invoked against sore eyes. Bepresented (1) as a nnn holding a pyx or a lily ; (2) <hi the rood screen in Korth Elmham Church, with a chaplet of flowers in her hand, and a crown of lilies on her head. Husenbeth mentions a French engraving, in which she ap- pears trampling on a scimitar, while a Turk lies at her feet, a cross planted in his turban. She is the symbol of piety ; St. Catherine (1) of wisdom, and St. Mary Magdalene, of penitence. Clara was one of three or more beau- tiful daughters of Favorino Sciffo, or Ciffi, and B. Ortolan a his wife, wealthy citizens of Assisi. She was at the most impressionable age when the preaching of Francis of Assisi, his numerous con- versions, and his love of poverty were attracting a great deal of attention and beginning to revolutionize religious life. She longed to see and speak with the man who, in the bad and frivolous world, was pointing out a new way of salvation. He had heard of her angelic qualities, and wished to see her. She already wore a cilicium, and gently but success- fully opposed the plans of her parents to settle her in marriage. The two saints met and consulted, with the result that Clara resolved to be a nun. On the night of Palm Sunday, 1212, in gala dress, she left her home, by a door that had long been unused, and was barri- caded with wood and stone. Accom- panied by a woman, she went to the Portiuncula, where Francis and his monks, in solemn order, met her with lighted lamps in their hands. Francis gave her the rough woollen gown and rope of the order, in token of the poverty to which she was henceforth dedicated, and then gave her into the charge of the Benedictine nuns of St. Paul's. Her friends and relations tried to persuade her to return. She answered that Christ had called her to His service, and showed them that her hair was cut off, in proof of her determination to take the veil. They then tried to drag her away by force, but she held so fast by the altar that their efforts were unsuccessful. They regarded the poverty and lowness of a mendicant order as degradation to her and disgrace to themselves. But Clara had caught the spirit of her teacher, and shared his admiration for poverty, and her resolve was not to be shaken. St. Francis soon removed her to an- other Benedictine nunnery — St. Angolo of Pansa, near Assisi. There she was joined by her sister Agnes (17). St Francis gave them a poor little new house close to the church of St. Damian, outside the walls of Assisi, and ap- pointed Clara the sui>erior. Soon the action, which had at first provoked scandal and universal reprobation, was regarded as a holy example, and the two sisters were joined by their mother and sixteen other ladies of their kindred and acquaintance, three of whom were of the great family of the IJbaldini of Florence. Abstinence, silence, and extreme poverty were the distinctive features of the Order of Poor Clares. When St. Clara inherited great wealth from her father, she distributed it all to hos- pitals and poor persons, and kept nothing for her sisterhood, desiring to live on charity. She washed the feet of the lay- sisters when they returned from bogging. All the nuns went barefooted, and slept on the bare ground. So great was the sympathy and friendship between the brethren of St. Francis and the sister- hood of St. Clara, that Francis warned his monks lest, God having dei^rived them of wives, the devil should be found to have given them sisters.
