ROCKFORD—On the feast of St. Clare, Aug. 11, Bishop David Malloy celebrated an 8 a.m. Mass at the Poor Clare Colettines Corpus Christi Monastery in Rockford, joined by Father Carl Beekman and Father Nicholas Federspiel and a handful of seminarians. 

 

In his homily, the bishop reflected on St. Clare when she was 18 and left her family and comfortable life behind to join St. Francis and the particular path to holiness that became the Franciscans.

 

In addition to honoring St. Clare, Bishop Malloy said, the Mass also honored Clare’s daughters, including the nuns praying and sacrificing on behalf of the diocese, other prayer intentions and the world. 

 

The bishop also blessed the traditional “Poor Clares’ bread” made by the nuns and distributed after Mass.