Poor Clares

Butch del Castillo writes of a "medical and dental mission, the likes of which Obando had never seen before" late last month.  The social and community involvement of the companies of Ambassador Antonio Cabangon Chua, which highlights his 77th birthday, was threatened by typhoon Mina. Butch admits to be cynical about the whole event as Mina threatens to rain on the ambassador's parade, pun intended.

Obando is well known for its fiesta, which runs to three days as a result of its having three patron saints: Nuestra Señora de Salambao, San Pascual Baylon and Santa Clara.  An elderly lady of Obando tells Butch that Santa Clara would save the day for the medical mission.   Despite the doubting Thomases, "would you believe it," says Butch "the project was a smashing success."

St. Clare is the foundress of the Poor Clares, a religious order of the Franciscan rule of extreme poverty.  The intercession of St. Clare to petition fair weather by those planning outdoor parties and like activities.  This is usually accompanied by an offerring of eggs which one Poor Clare admits "we are fed up with eating eggs."  Some explanations have been offered as to why St. Clare has been marked as an intercessor for good weather, such as associating her name to the weatherman's "clear skies".  But why eggs? In Spanish, clara is associated to the albumen (egg whites).

Perhaps a more plausible explanation comes from St. Francis of Assisi whose spirituality was adopted by St. Clare.  St. Francis wrote "The Canticle of the Sun", also known as the Laudes Creaturarum (Praise of the Creatures), a religious song praising God for his wonderful creation.  Several renditions of  "The Canticle of the Sun" have been written including the modern version by Marty Haugen.

Franco Zeffirelli directed "Brother Sun Sister Moon" about St. Francis of Assisi and St. Clare in 1972, which has gained much acclaim even as it has been criticized transposing a medieval mendicant spirituality with a hippie counter cultural  autobiographical flavour.