Bl. Clara Gambacorta

Feast Day: April 17

Blessed Clara was born in Pisa in 1362, married at the age of twelve and widowed at the age of fifteen.

She longed to join a religious order, but her family objected. When at last they relented, upon the advice of Saint Catherine of Siena she received the Dominican habit at the Monastery of the Holy Cross in Pisa.

In 1385 along with Blessed Maria Mancini she founded the Monastery of Saint Dominic in Pisa where regular observance was strictly maintained. She was noted for her great prudence and charity, especially in pardoning the assassin of her father and brothers. She prized study and urged her sisters to do likewise.

She died on April 17, 1419.