Claritus, Bl.
CLARITUS, BL.
Monastic founder; b. Florence, Italy, c. 1300; d. convent of Chiarito, Florence, May 25, 1348. He was a member of the noble Voglia family, and although he had received orders, he married. After a miraculous answer to an appeal to St. Zenobius (early 5th-century bishop of Florence), he returned to the clerical state, founding c. 1343 the convent of Chiarito (Regina Coeli), where his wife, Nicolosia, became a nun. He prescribed the Rule of St. augustine for the community and devoted himself to ministering to its needs until his death. His tomb, in the convent, and his crucifix, also on display there, were objects of popular veneration. Pope leo xi, while he was still archbishop of Florence, recognized the cult of Claritus. His body is now in the church of the Dominican sisters, Al Sodo (in Florence-Castello).
Feast: May 6.
Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum May 6:160–164. Bollettino storico Agostiniano 1 (1924) 15–20. r. van doren, Dictionnaire d'istoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques 12:1068. a. mercati and a. pelzer, Dizionario ecclesiastico 1:637. w. humpfner, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche 2 2:1215.
[b. j. comaskey]