Култ свете Кларе у Котору (XIV – XVI век)

Abstract

In the medieval town of Kotor, written sources bear testimony to the acceptance and development of the cult of saint Clare, founder of the SecondFranciscian religious order assigned to women. The earliest mention of the Saint Clare monastery (Monasterii poncellarum, sive Sanctae Clarae de Catharo) on the territory of Kotor`s municipality is found in a law decree that is concerned with the election of the monastery`s procurators, which was issued during the service of bishopRaymundus Agouti (1331-1334). At the request of Kotor`s municipality, pope Urban V has authorized the bishop of Kotor Duymus to build a monastery for abbess and thirty nuns at the expense of the municipality, inside the walls of the town, on the site of a former female Benedictine monastery that had been in a state of neglect. Saint Clare was painted as a part of the fourteenth-century fresco decoration of Kotor`s cathedral of Saint Tryphon. Accompanied by the saint Lucy, she was represented on the intrados of the western bay arch of the church. The scene has been analyzed based on the historical and theological context, and as such, together with written sources, bears testimony of the worship of Saint Clare in the medieval town of Kotor.