The nun

There were many stories about the nun.

There was the story of when armed men tried to break into the convent. She was very ill at the time, but she rose up immediately. She came to her window with the fear of God in her eye and holding the Eucharist in her hand. There was a dazzling light and the armed men fled in terror.

A little later, a literal army of men began to assemble outside. She then knelt down with the other sisters and prayed. A terrific thunderstorm came out of nowhere and all the men fled for good.

But the most interesting story about the nun is that she was once young and beautiful, a child of wealth and privilege, but that she forsook all the things of this world for the joy and love of Christ, following the example of another child of wealth and privilege in the town: a young man they called Francis.

St. Clare of Assisi died of natural causes on this very day in the year 1253. Tens of thousands of Poor Clare nuns continue to follow her example of prayer and devotion to Christ, from Kiryushi, Japan, to Birmingham, Alabama (the convent of Mother Angelica, founder of EWTN).