Clare is from the Latin clarus ("clear, bright, famous"). **Saint Clare of Assisi (1194-1253)** — Italian noblewoman who **fled her home at 18 to follow Francis of Assisi, becoming the founder of the Order of Poor Ladies (the Poor Clares) — the second Franciscan order** and the first religious rule written by a woman to be approved by the Pope. **Lived in radical poverty at the Convent of San Damiano for 41 years until her death**. **First nun in Church history to write a rule for her own order; declared patron saint of television by Pius XII in 1958**. **Clare Boothe Luce (1903-1987)** — first US Congresswoman from Connecticut, US Ambassador to Italy.
Subject of Liliana Cavani's *Francis* (1989 film).
Clare reduces to six — the number of Poor Clares founder.