The Servant of God
Sr. Chiara Isabella Fornari
Spouse of Christ's Sorrow
In honor of Our Lady's birthday feast today, I am featuring the life of an obscure Poor Clare mystic, whose life is very much connected to the popular devotion of Mary's birth and infancy, which the reader will understand further down in this blog. Her secular name was Anna Felice Fornari and she was born on June 25, 1697.
Based on data I pieced together from various online sources, Anna's family was from Rome, Italy, where they were distinguished and affluent. Similar to other mystic souls, Anna was inspired to spirituality from her earliest years and, in particular, was conscientious in observing chastity and purity.
At age 13, Anna boarded in the Franciscan Monastery of St. Francis in Todi, where she was taken to be tutored by the Poor Clares. The stay with the nuns turned out to be permanent, since it resulted in a religious vocation for the young student. Anna entered the novitiate at 15 and was professed the following year - July 1713 - under the name Sr. Chiara Isabella.
An early depiction of Sr. Chiara Isabella,
Mystic & Poor Clare Abbess of Todi.
Chiara's early life as a nun was marked by the virtues she displayed, as well as by extreme forms of self-mortification and remarkable spiritual experiences - not only did she wholly embrace the austere life of a Franciscan nun, but she also added her own penitential practices such as the regular use of the discipline even onto blood. Her extraordinary efforts at sanctity attracted the attention of the devil who sent demons to terrorize the young nun. Their diabolic attacks at first took the form of seductive temptations and frightening apparitions, but when these failed, Chiara was subjected to physical assaults that nearly drove her to despair had she not been sustained by faith and God's grace. All served to purify her soul and to prepare her for still-greater graces and deeper union with Jesus.
... and, as if to compensate for the trials she was undergoing, Chiara's moments of suffering were interspersed with heavenly consolation and divine charisms. She experienced ecstasies accompanied by encouraging visits from Our Lady and saints such as St. Clare of Assisi (d. 1253), St. Catherine of Siena (d. 1380), and St. Maria Maddalena de Pazzi (d. 1607); was given the Sacred Stigmata in her hands, feet, side, and brow, which were mostly invisible although at times they were seen bleeding (relics of her blood-stained clothing reportedly emanated a floral fragrance). Chiara's spiritual gifts reached a pinnacle when she underwent the Mystical Marriage with Christ, who espoused her soul through a wedding band he placed on her finger. The Lord then referred to her as his "Spouse of Sorrow'.
The other nuns were initially skeptical of the supernatural phenomena surrounding Chiara - they judged her a fraud, deluded, or even possessed, and some of them went so far as to berate and humiliate her. In response to this added trial, the mystic displayed unwavering humility, charity, and patience... and, in due time, she won the community over with her genuine goodness and sanctity. In fact, she was later elected Abbess, leading the monastery in an exemplary manner. Chiara died on December 9, 1744, leaving behind a solid reputation for sanctity not just within the monastery walls but throughout the Umbria region of Italy.
Although she attained great fame of holiness even in her lifetime, most people today know very little about Sr. Chiara Isabella Fornari's life, virtues, and miracles. Her name, when researched, is often mentioned in narratives relating to two popular Marian images/devotions, which she is closely linked with:
This beautiful and familiar image of Mother and Divine Child was painted by an artist named Carlo Maratta (d. 1713). He gifted the original to Chiara and, not long after, the Abbess had an apparition of the Madonna, who expressed her pleasure at the depiction. Mary went on to promise signal graces for those who would venerate it along with a short invocation, "My Mother, my confidence!", hence the Marian title of the image.
The painting became a channel of grace and copies were distributed throughout Italy. A copy now hanging in the Lateran Basilica, Rome, is particularly venerated for its reported miraculous properties, further spreading devotion to Our Lady of Confidence around the world.
+ The Maria Bambina
This miraculous image is of the baby Mary; one of a few such sculptures molded from wax by Chiara, herself, as an expression of her intense devotion to the Mother of Christ. The surviving image that is world-famous today was gifted to another Poor Clare monastery by the abbess before it eventually found its way to the Sisters of Charity in Milan. There, worn and discolored by the passing of time, a seriously ill sister was instantaneously healed while venerating it, after which it miraculously took on life-like features; it's been associated with cures and signal graces ever since.
The Maria Bambina is especially honored on September 8th, the day the Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady's Nativity, which is why I decided to post about Sr. Chiara today - read more about the devotion to the Maria Bambina here.
Lastly, another detail of Chiara's prolific mystical life is the immense help she was to the Holy Souls in Purgatory. She had profound compassion for them and, like many mystics who bore the Stigmata, part of her expiatory suffering was apparently allotted for the benefit of souls still undergoing purification. Through God's design, many were permitted to appear to the nun to request prayer and sacrifices, which she generously offered on their behalf. On at least two occasions, proof of Chiara's mysterious encounters with Poor Souls were left behind, via scorch marks of hand prints on her clothing and on a wooden table she used. These relics survive to this day and are displayed in the "Purgatory Museum" in Rome (see below).
A scorched hand print and cross left on Sr.
Chiara's desk by a priest-soul asking for prayer.
The Cause for Sainthood of Sr. Chiara has been opened but is presently stalled for some reason. Because of my personal devotion to Our Lady and the Poor Souls in Purgatory, I feel a special affinity towards this humble Franciscan and would like to see her officially ranked among the Saints, or at least beatified! Please join me in seeking Sr. Chiara's intercession to obtain favors for her Canonization:
Lord, through the intercession of Sr.
Chiara Isabella Fornari, your Spouse of
Sorrow, grant me the grace I now pray
for [describe here]. May it help to bring
about her canonization. Amen.
(Report any graces received to this ministry)
