As she opened the cloister door so that we could return into the church, I asked Suora Giacinta how many sisters lived in her Montefalco Augustinian cloistered convent, “Ten,” she told me,” and and added with a wink and a twinkle as she pointed to herself, “…..and I am the youngest.”
She’s a sprightly ninety years old and had warmly welcomed us into the Augustinian cloister adjacent to the Chiesa di Santa Chiara della Croce (St. Clare of the Cross), the construction desired by the bishop of Spoleto, Maffeo Barberini (the future Pope Urban VIII).
The church – of severe and classical design – was buuilt in the early 17th-century on design of Valerio Martelli, Perugia architect and honorary citizen of Montefalco:
A chapel in the right transept is the only remnant of a pre-existing church inaugurated in 1430:
The chapel holds the silver tomb (made in 1611) displaying the body of St. Clare of the Cross (1268 – 1308), beloved saint of Montefalco:
Above the tomb hangs a painting of 1600 depicting St. Clare of the Cross praying as the Lord appears to her carrying His Cross, with the committente (the person who commissioned the art) kneeling piously, hands folded in the corner:
Chiara da Montefalco grew up in a wealthy, religious family and in fact her brother, Francesco, entered the Franciscan order (there were already followers of St. Francis of Assisi in Montefalco as of 1215) while her sister, Giovanna, lived in isolated prayer in a hermitage built by their father in 1271. Chiara later joined her as well as a few other women.
In 1290, the group opted to follow the Augustinian order and their simple hermitage became a monastero (convent). with Giovanna becoming the first badessa (abbess) of their Monastero della Croce. Upon her sister’s death in 1291, Chiara took on the role of abbess.
In 1303, Chiara had the oratory dedicated to the Holy Cross and a few decades after her death, frescos were done in the chapel by an Umbrian painter, many of them depicting episodes of her life.
One fresco depicts her death with Clare seated, surround by her consorelle (co-sisters) and her Franciscan brother near her as well as her confessor (also Franciscan), Fra Tommaso. Clare’s cousin, another Giovanna, kneels in the foreground, her back to us:
A nearby fresco depicts the most salient episode of Chiara’s life: her meeting with Christ carrying His Cross in the cloister garden in 1294. She wished to take the Cross from Him, thus alleviating His pain and it is said that the impress of the “signs” of the Passion entered her heart.
Clare bore pain in her heart for many years and her consorelle dissected her body the evening of her death, August 17, 1308 and found the imprint of a cross in her heart.
The heart is now displayed in a cross-shaped silver reliquary in the chapel in the church, just to the left of her tomb and below the statue of St. Augustine:
Three gall stones were also found by the dissecting nuns in Chiara’s bladder, all of equal size and shape and the nuns agreed in interpreting them as a sign of the Trinity. The gall stones are in the reliquary as well:
To the right of Santa Chiara’s silver tomb is a 17th-century silver reliquary, a bust of the veiled Saint, holding her heart. Sant’Ambrogio (St. Ambrose) – one of the four Doctors of the Church – stands above, Bible in his hand:
After viewing the relics of Santa Chiara and the 14th-century frescoes in the small oratorio, Suora Giacinta invited us into the cloister, showing us with great reverence the remainder of the tree said to have sprouted from Christ’s staff when He met Santa Chiara di Montefalco in the late 13th-century in the cloister garden. 
Behind the glass case holding a chunk of the sacred tree trunk, a 17th-century fresco of unknown artist depicts the scene.
Suora Giacinta led us into the beloved garden to show us the trees, said to have been propagated with seeds of the tree sprouting from Christ’s staff in the meeting with Santa Chiara centuries prior:
Jennifer and Jim and son Chris from Iowa so enjoyed meetings Suor Giacinta and hearing her stories….
…that they later purchased rosaries made by the Augustinian sisters from the seeds of those trees:
After our visit to the giardino, we stopped to view the 17th- and 18th-century ex-votos (literally, “out of a vow”., ie., images commissioned for a favor received or to request a favor) painted to thank Santa Chiara or to ask her intercession. The paintings on wooden panels are by unknown artists and each ex-voto depicted Santa Chiara in a nimbus up to the left, holding a lily symbol of her purity;
In a few of the ex-votos, her heart is visible, the cross imprinted on it:
Hanging near the ex-voto is a recently-restored stunning early 14th-century crucifix of the school of Giotto…..
….and Suor Giacinta prayed before it with great devotion:
She then showed us the courtyard area of the medieval cloister, a well in the center festooned with flowering plants and an arcaded gallery on the second floor:
Before we left the cloister and returned to the main church, Suor Giacinta showed us the elegant vestment embroidered with gold thread, late 19th-century gift of a Roman princess to celebrate the canonization of Santa Chiara (in 1881). In 1968 – 700th anniversary of her birth – the vestment was removed as considered not in harmony with the Saint’s life of poverty and denial.
Mille grazie, Suor Giacinta, for having opened for us doors to many a Montefalco treasure.
