The charism of the Capuchin Poor Clares centers on a life of cloistered contemplation, radical poverty, and total dedication to God in prayer and praise. They follow the Rule of Saint Clare as lived out in the spirit of the Capuchin reform — embracing an austere life of prayer, poverty without personal possessions, simplicity of life, and fraternal communion. Through their hidden prayer and contemplative presence, they offer spiritual support to the Church and the world, uniting their lives with Christ’s suffering and interceding for humanity.

Though the Poor Clares were originally founded by St. Clare of Assisi in the early 13th century, the Capuchin Poor Clares are a later reform branch that began in 1538 when Blessed Maria Lorenza Longo and her companions in Naples embraced the strict life of poverty and austerity modeled by the Capuchin friars. Their first monastery in Naples became the foundation of this reform, and from there communities spread throughout Europe and later to the Americas. The Capuchin reform renewed the original Franciscan and Clares’ ideals of simplicity, renunciation of possessions, and intense contemplative prayer, shaping the unique communal life of the Capuchin Poor Clares today.

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