The Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth marked the feast day of St. Clare recently, reminding people of how she let her faith take priority over worldly goods and that we should follow her example.

Clare’s decision to give her life to the Church became clear after she met St. Francis of Assisi.

“At the age of 18, she went to live in the church of San Damiano and embraced a life of great poverty and seclusion from the world,” the diocese posted on Facebook. “We live in a busy world with tons of distractions. May St. Clare’s love for Jesus be an inspiration to set time aside to quiet our inner selves and meet Jesus in the silence of our hearts.” 

In 1194, St. Clare of Assisi was born in Italy, Britannica said. Her parents wanted her to get married, but she had been so deeply influenced by St. Francis of Assisi that she refused marriage and ran away to a chapel near Assisi. 

St. Francis received Clare’s vows in 1212, and she soon began the Second Order of St. Francis. Many women joined her, including her mother and sister, and they soon became known as the Poor Clares. The Order lived in the church and convent of San Damiano, near Assisi. 

St Clare became the abbess at age 21, and she led the Poor Clares by example as they pursued lives of extreme discipline, poverty and seclusion; Franciscan Media said. That often involved things like not wearing shoes or eating meat, and sleeping on the ground. Clare never left San Damiano, but she became so influential in the Church that bishops, cardinals and even popes would travel there to consult her. 

Not long after Clare died at the age of 59, Pope Alexander IV canonized her; Catholic.org said. In 1958, Pope Pius XII made her the patron saint of television, because when she had been sick and was unable to attend Mass, she could see and hear what was said on the wall of her bedroom. She is also the patron saint of eye disease, goldsmiths and laundry.

Catholics celebrate St. Clare’s feast day each year on Aug. 11.