Clare of Assisi was a 13th-century Italian saint and a primary follower of Francis of Assisi. Born into a wealthy noble family in Assisi, she rejected a life of privilege and marriage to embrace the Gospel through extreme poverty. She established the Order of Poor Ladies, a monastic community for women following the Franciscan tradition. As an abbess, she led her community with great humility, living a life of seclusion, manual labor, and prayer. She is recognized as the first woman known to have written a monastic rule of life.