Santa Chiara (1257-65)

This was the site of San Giorgio, a church outside the Roman walls that was first documented in 1111.  San Giorgio belonged to the canons of San Rufino by 1153.  Their hospice of San Rufino, which was originally near Porta Perlici, was moved here in ca. 1240.   St Francis attended school at San Giogio, was temporarily buried here in the period 1226-30, and he was canonised here in 1228.

St Clare's body was brought to San Giorgio from San Damiano after her death in 1253, and some of the sisters moved here at that time to be near her tomb.  They probably lived in the adjacent hospice as they began to negotiate with the canons of San Rufino for the exchange of San Damiano for San Giorgio. 

The negotiations were not easy.  Cardinal John of Toledo arbitrated in favour of the sisters in October, 1253, but the canons refused to comply.  In order to ease the negotiations, the sisters secured the church of San Giacomo di Murorupto from the Abbot of Farfa, and added this to San Damiano as a quid pro quo for San Giorgio.  However, the canons continued to resist, possibly because they did not want another major pilgrimage church in Assisi that would attract funds that might otherwise have gone to the Duomo.  They finally gave way only with the threat of excommunication.

In 1255, Pope Alexander IV canonised St Clare and granted plenary indulgences to those visiting her tomb in San Giorgio on her feast day, a move that probably provided much of the initial funding for the proposed new church.  Its construction began beside San Giorgio in ca. 1257 (when the old hospice was demolished), although the final terms of the transfer of the site were not agreed until 1259. 

In 1260, the Bishops of Perugia, Spoleto and Assisi translated the relics of St Clare to a burial vault under the altar of the new church.  A new stretch of city wall was built from Porta Moiano at that time to bring the convent within the defensive boundary of the city.  Those sisters who still remained at San Damiano and those who had moved to San Giacomo di Murorupto were then finally reunited with the others.  They  used the old church of San Giorgio (which now stood in their cloister) until its demolition in 1263 (see below).  Pope Clement V consecrated the new church in 1265.

Santa Chiara now formed a pendant to san francesco, on the other ide of the city.  Its convent absorbed the community from Santa Margherita of Gubbio in 1447, followed by a series of others from Assisi: Santa Maria di Paradiso in 1459; Sant’ Angelo in Panzo in 1470; and Santa Lucia in 1475.

Exterior 

The pink and white stone facade has a central portal with reliefs of lions on each side and a fine rose window above.  The small door to the right leads to the sacristy, which was built in the 14th century on a small courtyard that led to the convent. 

The flying buttresses (visible along the left side but hidden within the convent on the right) were added in 1351 to support the vault.  The campanile to the right of the apse is the tallest in Assisi; its current conical spire was built in 1926.

Interior

The floor plan of Santa Chiara is modelled on that of the upper church of San Francesco.  It served as a church for pilgrims, who (at least initially) could see the chamber in which St Clare was buried through a grill at the front of the altar platform.  (This was similar to the arrangement for venerating the relics of St Francis in the lower church of San Francesco.)

The sisters were not allowed into the church, although they could see the high altar through the grills in the back wall of the right transept that communicated with their cloister.  As noted above, they  used  the old church of San Giorgio in the cloister as their church until 1263.  It was then demolished and replaced by a chapel (probably the Cappella di San Giorgio - see below) that was similarly reserved for the sisters. 

The only other side chapel in Santa Chiara is the Cappella di Sant' Agnese (see below), which was built before 1400 and dedicated to St Agnes of Assisi .  There were no lay burials in the church and hence there was no need for burial chapels such as (for example) those that were added in the 14th century to the lower  church of San Francesco.

Presbytery

The relics of St Clare were interred under the high altar in 1260 in a barrel-vaulted chamber built into the rock in an arrangement similar to that used for the burial of St Francis in what is now the crypt of San Francesco.  They remained there, hidden from sight, until their rediscovery in 1850 (see below).  A grate in the altar steps directed the attention of pilgrims towards the burial spot.

The sisters brought the San Damiano Crucifix (see below) with them in 1260, and this probably hung above the high altar before the present Crucifix (see below) replaced it. 

• Crucifix (ca. 1260)
  

The pergola (which is largely in its original form) may well have been installed at about this time in order to protect the high altar from the press of pilgrims.  (A similar pergola was installed to protect the high altar in the lower church of San Francesco in ca. 1300).  Two panels that probably stood on the pergola still survive in Santa Chiara:

• Santa Chiara Dossal (ca. 1283) - right wall of the left transept

Image courtesy of Paolo Rossi

The scenes from the life of St Clare should be read clockwise from the bottom left:

• St Clare receives a palm from Bishop Guido I in San Rufino on Palm Sunday of 1211 (or perhaps 1212) before leaving home to embark on her religious life;
  
• St Francis receives St Clare at the Portiuncula;
  
• St Clare adopts a religious habit and St Francis cuts her hair;
  
• St Clare resists her family at San Paolo delle Abbadesse;
  
• St Agnes (the sister of St Clare) resists her family at Sant’ Angelo in Panzo and (above) St Francis cuts her hair;
  
• St Clare multiplies the bread for her sisters at San Damiano;
  
• the death of St Clare, and her vision of the virgin saints; and
  
• the funeral of St Clare.
  

• Maestà (ca. 1283) - left wall of the right transept

Frescoes 

The frescoes that originally covered the walls of the church were whitewashed in 1719 on the orders of Bishop Palmerini, and the surviving fragments were rediscovered only in ca. 1900.

Left Transept

These frescoes (late 13th century) are probably the oldest surviving in the church.   The best-preserved are those in the top register, which depict (anti-clockwise from the right):

• the creation of the world;
  
• the creation of Adam;
  
• the creation of Eve;
  
• the original sin; and
  
• the expulsion from Eden.

Other surviving frescoes ffom the original cycle in this transept depict:

• Noah constructing the ark (right wall);
  
• the flood (back wall); and
  
• the sacrifice of Isaac (left wall).

A lovely (albeit damaged) fresco of the Nativity (14th century) is lower down on the back wall.

Right Transept

These frescoes (early 14th century) are the autograph works of the so-called Maestro Espressionista di Santa Chiara, who is named for their expressive style.  The surviving scenes in the top register depict:

• the Last Judgement (left wall);
• Joachim's dream of the imminent birth of the Virgin (back wall); and
  
• the marriage of the Virgin (right wall).
  

The surviving scenes in the middle register depict:

• the massacre of the innocents and the flight into Egypt (back wall); and
  
• Christ among the doctors (right wall).
  

The lovely frecoes in the bottom register of the back wall (below the grill that communicates with the cloister) depict:

Detail of the fresco depicting the funeral of St Clare

• the funeral of St Clare at San Damiano; and

• the translation of her body to Santa Chiara.

In the first of these frescoes, St Agnes (with a halo) kneels before her sister's body.  Pope Innocent IV (on the left) rather hesitantly presides at the funeral service while a bishop to his left raises his right hand.  This is probably a depiction of the moment at which Cardinal Rinaldo dei Conti Segni dissuaded the Pope from canonising St Clare on the spot by reciting the Mass for a Holy Virgin. Crossing Vaults

The format of these frescoes (14th century) is clearly based on that used in the crossing vault of the lower church of San Francesco, and it is possible that they are the work of the same artist (the so-called Maestro delle Vele).  The frescoes depict:

• the Virgin and St Clare;
  
• SS Agnes of Rome and Agnes of Assisi;
  
• SS Catherine of Alexandria and Margaret (or Mary Magdalene); and
  
• SS Lucy and Cecilia.

Left Wall  of the Nave

These votive frescoes (1391) near the entrance, which are dated, depict:

• the Madonna della Misercordia;
  
• an unknown saint; and
  
• the Volto Santo (Holy Face of Lucca).

Cappella di Sant’ Agnese

This five-sided chapel was built on the left side of the church in the 14th century, and was first documented in 1400.  The relics of St Agnes, the sister of St Clare, are under the altar.  [When were they brought from San Damiano ???].  Ortulana, the mother of SS Agnes and Clare and Abbess Benedetta, St Clare's successor are both buried in this chapel. 

The grate across the entrance to the chapel is probably original, and the original bifore window was re-opened and re-glazed in 1929.

Cappella di San Giorgio

Image courtesy of Paolo Rossi

The date of construction of this chapel  is unknown.  However, an altar dedicated to St George was consecrated in the right transept in 1265, suggesting that a chapel with this dedication did not exist at that time.  It certainly did exist in 1351, when the flying buttresses on the right wall of the church were built over it.

Strong circumstantial evidence favours a date soon after 1265: when Pope Urban IV approved the demolition of the old church of San Giorgio in 1263, he noted that this was to be replaced by a chapel in which the sisters could more conveniently celebrate Mass.  The present Cappella di san Giorgio contains a fresco of Pope Urban IV (see below), and it seems likely that this was the chapel to which he referred.

The chapel was probably originally reached from the adjoining convent.  During Mass for the sisters, the officiating priest probably stood at an altar on the right wall of the right transept of the church, so that they could receive Communion from a communicationg grill.

The chapel is in three bays.  In the early part of the 15th century, the bay nearest the transept was separated by a partition from the other two bays, which were then opened to the public by a door in the end wall.  In 1930, the bay of the chapel nearest the altar was walled off, and openings into the nave allowed it to become the Cappella del SS Sacramento. 

The restoration of the church after the earthquake of 1997 has returned the chapel to something like its original format, although the openings to the nave of the church have been retained.   A cabinet at the back of the chapel contains a number of important relics, including:

• St Francis' breviary, which Brother Leo gave to St Clare; 

• the original "Way of Life for the Order of Poor Sisters established by St Francis", which St Clare wrote and which Pope Innocent IV approved in 1253 (see St Clare); and

• St Clare's mantle, in which this precious document above was discovered in 1893.

San Damiano Crucifix

Image courtesy of Paolo Rossi

In 1205, when St Francis prayed before this painted wooden Crucifix (12th century) in San Damiano, he heard Christ tell him to rebuild the Church, which had fallen into ruin. 

The sisters brought the precious image with them when they moved from San Damiano to Santa Chiara, and probably located it initially above the rood screen of the church.  It was probably moved to the old church of San Giorgio in ca. 1260, and to its present location in the arch of the bay nearest the altar wall when the present chapel was constructed.

The iconography of Christus Triumphans (the living Christ on the Cross) was typical of the pre-Franciscan era in Umbria.  St John the Evangelist, the Virgin and a tiny figure of Longinus are depicted on the left, with St Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Longinus (now in full length after his conversion) and two tiny figures of Roman soldiers on the right.  Angels appear on the cross beam and above the head of Christ, where they surround a tondo of the Ascension with the Hand of God above.  There were originally six small figures of saints at the foot of the Cross, although only SS Peter (with a cockerel over his head) and Paul are now visible.

Frescoes of the Altar Bay

Scenes from the Passion (ca. 1330)

These frescoes in the lunette on the upper part of the altar wall complimented the San Damiano Crucifix . 

In the central scene of the Deposition,  Joseph of Arimathaea holds the body of Christ after the nails in His hand have been removed. Nicodemus removes the nail from the feet while St Mary Magdalene clings to the Cross.  The Virgin kisses the hands of Christ while one of the ladies behind here reaches to support the head, and St John the Evangelist stands grieving to the right. 

The flanking scenes depict the Resurrection (on the left) and the Entombment.  The Resurrection would more logically be on the left, but this alternative arrangement was probably used so that it appeared over the grill through which the sisters watched the elevation of the Host during mass at the high altar of the church.

Frescoed polyptych (ca. 1340)

St Clare Detail of the frescoed polyptych

This fresco by Puccio Capanna, which depicts the Madonna and Child with SS Clare, John the Baptist, Michael and Francis, is on the lower part of the altar wall, to the right of the grill, and probably originally ormed the fictive altarpiece of an altar.  The lower part of the fresco has been destroyed.

Frescoes (14th century)
These frescoes Pace di Bartolo on the left wall depict:

• the Annunciation, with a kneeling donor on the right (in the lunette);
  
• St George (the titular of the chapel) saving the princess from the dragon (on the left);
  
• the Adoration of the shepherds, with the Madonna feeding the Child before the manger as the Holy Spirit descends; and
  
• the Adoration of the Magi, in which the Child lays His hand on the head of one of the kings.
  

St Clare (14th century)

This full length figure is on the left of the arch.

Other Frescoes in the Cappella di San Giorgio

Pope Urban V (14th century)
This fresco is on a pilaster at right angles to left wall, to the left of the entrance.   

Frescoes on the entrance wall (1527)
These frescoes to the left of the entrance, which are signed and dated, depict:

• St Clare protecting her sisters under her cloak;
  
• the Madonna and child with St Anne;
  
• St Jerome holding a rock with which he has wounded his chest;
  
• St Roch; and
  
• the stigmatisation of St Francis.

Crypt

Stairs on each side of the nave lead to the crypt, which was built in 1872 to house the relics of St Clare. 

As noted above, the relics of St Clare were rediscovered under the high altar in 1850.  (This was readily accomplished using the experience gained in the relocation of the relics of St Francis under the high altar of the lower church of San Francesco  in 1818).  The coffin was opened at that time and the relics were transferred to a new sarcophagus.  This was placed under the San Damiano Crucifix in the Cappella di San Giorgio until 1872, when it was moved to the new crypt.

 The relics were placed in their present glass coffin in 1987. 

Read more:
J. Wood, "Women, Art and Spirituality", Cambridge (1996)
M. Bigaroni, "The Church of San Giorgio in Assisi and the first Expansion of the Medieval Walls", Greyfriars Review 8.1 (1994) 57 - 102
M. Bigaroni, H. Meier and E. Lunghi, "La basilica di Santa Chiara in Assisi", Perugia  (1994)
R. Miller, "In the Footsteps of St Clare", St Bonaventure (1993)

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