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187 B. CLARA 187 has moved lier head, hands, and feet of late y#ars. B.M, Baronius, ^nna/6«, 1308. Caper, in AA,SS, BolL Butler, lAvea. Ana- lecta, i. p. 1569. Vanghan. Neligan, Saintly Characters recently presented for Canonization, 1859. Cahier. Husenbeth, JEmblems, Bey. William Lloyd, Saints of 1881. Comhill Matjazine, Oct., 1881, "May in Umbria," by Mr. Y. A. Symonds. • B. Clara (5; (Chiaretta, Chiabuc- 4.-1 a) and B. Illuminata di Giovannello, were lay-sisters nnder St. Clara op MoNTKFALCO. JacobiUi, Santi delV Urn- bria, B. Clara (6 ), Jan. 22, of Bimini. •f Fob. 10, 1325.' 3rd O.8.F. A very young widow, frivolous and ambitions, beautiful, selfish, luxurious, accom- plished. She seemed to have no heart. The misfortunes of her family and country were matter of indifference to her ; she only cared to amuse and indulge herself. One day, passing the church of the Franciscans, she felt an impulse to enter, contrary to her custom. With her beautiful hand, she took holy water as a matter of course. An interior voice said, " Clara, say one Pater and one Ave from your heart, without thinking of any- thing else." She did so, and began to repent. She did not tell anybody that she was converted, but shut the door on her admirers, left off her gay clothes, fed on bread and water, but first roasted a nasty creature, and compelled herself to eat it, saying to herself, " Now, glut- ton, eat this tit-bit." She went bare- footed, and wore cords of iron around her neck, arms, and knees. A cuirass of iron worn by her is still preserved at Bimini. She spent whole nights in prayer. In Lent, for thirty years, she prayed in a hole in an old wall exposed to rain and cold. She carried wood to the poor. Her earnest prayer and deep contrition were rewarded by a great power of converting sinners ; one of her converts was a widow whose life had been like Clara's ; one was a usurer of Bimini. Her sanctity became so well known that devout persons desired to be directed by her. She built the monas- tery of our Lady of the Angels. She did not shut herself up, but went about working as a charwoman. She was dis- tinguished for wisdom in her life, and miracles after death. She was buried in her monastery. Pius VI. approved, in 1784, the wor- ship already paid to her at Bimini. Bussy, Courtisanes Devenues Saintes. CiviUa Caitolica, v. 277. Ordenska- lendar. Prayer-book of the Order of St. Francis. St Clara (7) of India, or Thaclkai- MANOTH, July 2. 14th century. When India was divided into forty-seven Chris- tian kingdoms, Eling Seiosaflam reigned over one of them, and lived at Sceva, the capital of all India. He spent a glorious life fighting against all unbelievers and heretics, and won the palm of martyrdom on the field of battle. He had a beautiful daughter, named 2iemedemarea, which means Fair, Clear, Illustrious. Under very wondeifnl circumstances she became a Dominican nun, translating her name to Clara. She lived in her convent for fifty years, never eating or drinking except on Sundays, always sleeping on ashes, never seeing her own skin, and never washing. She preached to the people in the Chaldean language. She died about 1390, and was highly vene- rated all over India. Pio, Dominican Saints, Bazzi, Predicatori, Florence, 1577. The BoUandists allude to the story as an absurd fable. B. Clara (8), AprU 17. f i^i'^- Daughter of Peter Gambacorta, governor of Pisa for twenty-four years. She had a brother, B. Peter of Pisa, founder of a congregation of the Order of St. Jerome. She was christened Thora or Theodora, and married at six or seven to Simon de Massa. Her voluntary fasts were so strict that she suffered excessive pain from hunger. When she was twelve, her charity and liberality were so ex- treme that her father-in-law locked up all his goods, lest she should give them to the poor. She accompanied her father when, in 11575, he went with the arch- bishop and the principal citizens of Pisa to receive St. Catherine of Siena, whom they had invited to nurse and convert in the plague-stricken city of Pisa. Thora was much impressed and