This wonderful woman, clear alike in name and in deed, belonged to a family of no small luster of the city of Assisi. Having been first a fellow-citizen of the Blessed Francis on earth, she afterward came to reign with him on high. Her father was a knight, and she was of knightly lineage on both sides; her family was wealthy and, after the manner of the country, owned extensive possessions. Her mother, Ortolana by name, about to bring forth a fruitful plantlet in the garden of the Church, was herself not wanting in good fruit. For although she bore the yoke of marriage and was bound by household ties, yet she devoted as much of her time as might be to the divine service and was unremitting in works of piety.

This devout woman crossed the sea with other pilgrims and, having visited those spots which the God-man hallowed by His sacred footprints, at length returned home with joy. On another occasion she went to pray at St. Michael, and with still greater devotion did she visit the shrines of the Apostles. What more need be said? By the fruit the tree is known, and the fruit is commendable in virtue of the tree. An abundance of the divine favor preceded in the root so that a wealth of holiness might follow in the branchlet. When finally Ortolana was with child and the time of her delivery was at hand, as she prayed earnestly before the cross in a certain church, to the end that the Crucified might bring her safely through the perils of childbirth, she heard a voice saying to her: "Fear not, woman, for thou shalt in safety bring forth a light which will illumine the world more clearly." Taught by this oracle, Ortolana directed that the new-born infant, when born again in holy Baptism, be named Clare in the hope that the brightness of the promised light might in some way be verified after the good pleasure of the Divine Will.--Pages 6 - 7.