page_title: Poor Clares
section_title: Continental Europe
hierarchical_section_title: Poor Clares / Spread of the order / Europe / Continental Europe
caption_attribution_description: English: Gothic Altar of Poor Clares in Cologne Cathedral Polski: Gotycki Ołtarz Klarysek w katedrze w Kolonii Deutsch: Kölner Dom, Klarenaltar
context_page_description: The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare – originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and later the Clarisses, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Order, and the Second Order of Saint Francis – are members of a contemplative Order of nuns in the Catholic Church. The Poor Clares were the second Franciscan branch of the order to be established. Founded by Saints Clare of Assisi and Francis of Assisi on Palm Sunday in the year 1212, they were organized after the Order of Friars Minor, and before the Third Order of Saint Francis for the laity. As of 2011 there were over 20,000 Poor Clare nuns in over 75 countries throughout the world. They follow several different observances and are organized into federations.
  The Poor Clares follow the Rule of St. Clare, which was approved by Pope Innocent IV the day before Clare's death in 1253. The main branch of the Order follows the observance of Pope Urban. Other branches established since that time, who operate under their own unique Constitutions, are the Colettine Poor Clares, the Capuchin Poor Clares and the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration.
context_section_description: Currently there are communities of Colettine Poor Clares in Bruges, Belgium, as well as in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and in Larvik, Norway. There are several monasteries in Hungary, Lithuania and Poland of the Urbanist and Capuchin Observances.
  There are notable Clarissine churches in Bamberg, Bratislava, Brixen, and Nuremberg. There also is a small community in Münster, Germany and a Capuchin monastery in Sigolsheim, France.
caption: Gothic altar in Cologne Cathedral dedicated to Poor Clare saints
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