Light in the Dark Ages: The Friendship of Francis and Clare of Assisi [Paperback]

Jon M. Sweeney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2007

The Middle Ages were not so very dark, as the old textbooks say. As you will discover in this intriguing portrait of the first Franciscans, we live in dark ages whenever we become preoccupied with power. In this popular history, Jon Sweeney reveals the timeless temptations that come with being human---greed, competition, ego, and selfishness---as well as the many ways that Francis and Clare of Assisi inspired change and brought light into darkness.

Discover how Francis was first found by God and then joined by Clare despite the violent objections of her family. Explore a variety of issues that they faced, including the treatment of lepers in medieval society, corruption in the Church, and attitudes toward the created world. You will also learn how Clare's spirituality influenced that of other prominent women, how St. Francis lost control of his own movement, and why Francis's body was secretly buried upon his death.

The examples of early Franciscan spirituality challenge any of us who would follow Christ today. How would we view a young person today who rejected family for spiritual reasons? Is it possible for men and women to have deep friendship and remain true to a call to chastity? Is intentional poverty of any value? Have we sentimentalized family to the point of ignoring what Jesus taught his disciples on the subject?
Visit Jon Sweeney's blog at www.jonmsweeney.wordpress.com.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

She was rudder to his sail and yin to his yang, but the relationship between medieval saints Clare and Francis of Assisi was hardly the love affair depicted in literature and film, as this joint biography makes clear. Sweeney, author of the St. Francis Prayer Book and The Lure of Saints, sketches the true nature of the liaison, which he says was marked by natural affection, but never led to marriage or an affair. There is little reason to believe that Francis and Clare shared any romance other than one that was jointly with God, Sweeney writes of the partners in the spiritual movement that revolutionized Western religion. Relying on early biographies of Francis by Thomas of Celano and Bonaventure as well as more recent scholarship, Sweeney examines Francis's conversion and decision to marry poverty, showing how Clare, 12 years his junior, fled her family to embrace his radical way of life. Sweeney deals, too, with the controversy and dissension that erupted in the movement after just two decades as some followers softened the radical mendicancy espoused by Francis and Clare. Readers interested in an accurate portrayal of these two powerful figures will find this an excellent introduction to a movement that has captured the imaginations of moderns more than 700 years after the deaths of Francis and Clare. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Sweeney, who has written several popular histories of religious movements and figures, presents a dual biography conveying the intense religious spirit of the medieval world while describing a platonic friendship of two kindred souls. Francis, of course, had an immense and enduring impact on Christianity with his devotion to compassion, simplicity, and the preaching of the Gospels. Clare, also from Assisi, was 12 years younger than Francis and deeply moved by his preaching. She consciously rejected the affectations of her upper-class friends and family, disdaining fine clothes and other ostentatious displays of wealth. Like Francis, she strove to imitate the life of Jesus by living a life of poverty combined with service to humanity. Sweeney's story is reverent and inspiring, and it also sheds light on many aspects of medieval society that are often ignored in religious tracts, including the corruption of the clergy, schisms within the early Franciscan movement, and the role of women in religious reform movements. This work will be particularly appealing to religious laypeople, but general readers can also find much of value here. Freeman, Jay

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: Paraclete Press; annotated edition edition (August 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557254761
• ISBN-13: 978-1557254764
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,499,837 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jon M. Sweeney has lived in Vermont since 1997. He has three kids, one in college, one in high school, and a new baby girl. He writes and reflects on spiritual matters in books, articles, blogs, and other media, and he works in book publishing.

Jon was the cofounder and editor-in-chief of SkyLight Paths Publishing for several years. Since 2004 he has been the associate publisher at Paraclete Press.

His spiritual and religious life continues to evolve, and much of Jon's writing is about this. His first 20 years were spent as an involved evangelical (a story he told in the memoir Born Again and Again); he then spent 22 years as an active Episcopalian (see The Lure of Saints and Cloister Talks, among other books); and in the fall of 2009 he was received into the Catholic Church. Today, he is a practicing Catholic (of a more monastic variety), but his most regular spiritual practice is Jewish, as he prays regularly with his wife, a rabbi, and they keep a Jewish home.

Sweeney often says that he loves the church, the synagogue, and other aspects of organized religion, and wants to see these organisms survive (he loves religion; he's not just spiritual), but he also is not interested in doing things to simply prop up falling institutions. In all of his writing, Jon is drawn to the ancient and medieval (see Strange Heaven, Beauty Awakening Belief, The Road to Assisi, and the forthcoming The Pope Who Quit).

Sweeney has a special passion for Saints Francis and Clare of Assisi. He has written several books on Francis and Clare including Light in the Dark Ages: The Friendship of Francis and Clare of Assisi, a History Book Club and BOMC selection, The St. Francis Prayer Book, and The St. Clare Prayer Book. He has also written books on embodied prayer, the Virgin Mary, and other subjects. His most recent are Almost Catholic: An Appreciation of the History, Practice, and Mystery of Ancient Faith, published by Jossey-Bass, and Verily, Verily: The King James Bible--400 Years of Influence and Beauty.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid book on the lives of these two saints, August 7, 2007

By 

Jeffrey Miller "The Curt Jester" (Jacksonville, FL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Light in the Dark Ages: The Friendship of Francis and Clare of Assisi (Paperback)

If you do a lot of reading of Catholic books you are sure to come across multiple readings of the life of St. Francis and sometimes St. Clare. Especially since after Jesus, St. Francis is the subject of the most books.

I found though that this book gave me a fresh look at the life of St. Francis and his friendship with St. Claire. Unfortunately there is very little historical information to go on concerning their friendship and what documents we have to go by concentrated on St. Francis. Regardless of these limitations gives you a good idea of how St. Francis inspired St. Clair and how her life really lived out his ideals.

The book is not a straight serial biographical account of these two saints but various chapters addresses various themes. Though you do end up with a very good look at their lives and the world they lived in. The historical context is very important when considering these two saints and it only makes them shine the brighter considering the problems and the corruption within the Church at the time. It is always a good reminder that the Church is always need renewal and that it is only the saints that can truly bring about that renewal. But more importantly that we all need to respond to the Gospel as fully as St. Francis and St. Claire did.

I liked the balanced way these saints were covered in that the author tried to stay within what we know historically about their lives and to discern from some of the source material of books written after St. Francis' death while also at the same time not taking to skeptical of attitude to some of the surviving stories. You get a very good idea of the struggles of the early Franciscans and the book also address the sad chapters in early Franciscan history of the "Spiritual Franciscans" and the aftermath of the order after first St. Francis dies and then much later St. Claire.

So if your looking for a solid book on the life of both St. Francis and St. Clair is can highly recommend this one.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Light in the Dark Ages: The Friendship of Francis and Clare of Assisi, July 19, 2010

By 

Burton Keith Cossey (Carey, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Light in the Dark Ages: The Friendship of Francis and Clare of Assisi (Paperback)

After I read this book by Jon M. Sweeney, I ordered another one by him. The subject of Francis and Clare is one that has been written about extensively. However, Sweeney livens it up without resorting to "cutesy" tricks. He brings the subjects alive by focusing on their common charism in a way that transcends focusing on either of them exclusively. We see and feel---with Francis and Clare---the audacity-to-the-point-of-incomprehensibility of the Holy Spirit in reaching out lovingly to an era whose jaded decadence was similar in many ways to that of our modern era. I am asking the council of our local Secualr Franciscan fraternity to consider utilizing this book for our ongoing formation.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thought-provoking examination of what it truly meant for Francis and Clare to be followers of Jesus Christ, November 3, 2007

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Light in the Dark Ages: The Friendship of Francis and Clare of Assisi (Paperback)

Light in the Dark Ages: The Friendship of Francis of Francis and Clare of Assisi is a spiritual biography of Francis and Clare of Assisi, written especially to help guide and enlighten fellow Christians in the modern day. Light in the Dark Ages reveals that the Middle Ages themselves were not necessarily innately dark - "dark ages" come whenever humanity forgets the ideals of the Sermon on the Mount. Light in the Dark Ages tells of Francis' calling by God, and how Clare joined him despite the vehement and violent objections of her family. Exploring the realities of the day, including the treatment of lepers in medieval society and corruption in the Church, Light in the Dark Ages follows the example of two deeply spiritual figures to the end of their lives, and asks profound questions: how should one view a young person who rejects family for spiritual reasons? Can men and women share a deep yet purely platonic friendship? Is their value in an intentional vow of poverty? Does placing absolute value on family ignore the words of Jesus Christ? A thought-provoking examination of what it truly meant for Francis and Clare to be followers of Jesus Christ, and what that means for followers of Christ today.