The PDFs below contain images of seventeenth-century printed books containing the Rule of St. Clare. Two 1621 printed books of the Rule of St Clare are bound with a 1622 printed version of the "Declarations and Ordinances made upon the Rule of Our Holy Mother S. Clare" (more commonly known today as the Constitutions of St Colette).
The first of these 1621 Rules was used by Eleanor Knott when, in 1948, she undertook a modern transcription of the Royal Irish Academy MS D i 2, the 1636 Rule in the hand of Br Mícheál Ó Cléirigh OFM. At the time this study was undertaken, the book was housed in the library of the Franciscan Friars of Merchant's Quay, Dublin, hence it has been referred to here as MQ as well as in a soon-to-be published article in Archivium Hibernicum, the journal of the Catholic Historical Society of Ireland. The PDF below contains pages 3-49 of the book i.e. the Rule only.
The second 1621 book has been housed in our monastery from time immemorial. It was printed in Spanish Flanders ( probably St Omer) in the early- seventeenth century and brought to Ireland by Irish sisters who sought to establish the Order in Ireland. This document is referred to as G (for Galway) in the upcoming article. The PDF contains all 80 pages of the book.
The third PDF contains images of the Rule of St. Clare printed in a 1684 book produced for the Poor Clare Community of Aire. This is a lightly edited edition of the 1621 Rule.
(Higher definition images of those contained in these PDFs can be requested from: poorclaresgalwayvocations@gmail.com.)
Are we not perhaps all afraid in some way? If we let Christ enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves totally to him, are we not afraid that he might take something away from us? Are we not perhaps afraid to give up something significant, something unique, something that makes life so beautiful? Do we not then risk ending up diminished and deprived of our freedom? No! If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship are the doors of life opened wide. Only in this friendship is the great potential of human existence truly revealed. Only in this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation. Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and he gives you everything.
