The Lutheran Church commemorates Clare of Assisi. She died on this day In 1212. A wealthy woman of noble birth, Clare renounced her family’s wealth and, with the help of Francis of Assisi, established a community of prayer and poverty known today as the Poor Clares.

A woman of deep and extraordinary spirituality and devotion to Christ, the order she founded followed a rule of manual labor, prayer and almost complete silence. The legend of the founding of the order tells of a wealthy young Clare attending the Palm Sunday mass in the Cathedral. Following an ecstatic vision she walked out of the church, gave up her fine clothing, received a simple robe from Francis and began a life of pure devotion to Christ.

Another legend of St Clare has it that when she was too sick to attend a service in the church she could see it on the wall of her room. Therefore in 1958 Pope Pius XII named Clare the patron saint of television.

Gunsmoke on the air in 1958