February 16th is the traditional feastday of Blessed Philippa Mareri, the fist Poor Clare to be beatified. Blessed Philippa was even beatified before the death of St. Clare herself. Mother Maddalena relates in The Princess of Poverty: In the valley of Rieti… there lived the noble family of Mareria, Don Pietro and Donna Imperatrice. Francis was ever a most welcome guest at their home, and they were devotedly attached to him. They had a daughter, called Philippa… who longed to consecrate her life to God. Yet her parents, though devout and God-fearing, failed to see in their daughter's choice the Will of God and opposed her in every way. A suitable marriage, befitting her rank and condition, had already been arranged … But she steadfastly refused... [and], she left her home in the company of some pious women who were animated by the same aspirations as herself. They fled to a neighboring mountain where they took shelter in a grotto and entered upon a life of prayer, penance, and solitude… The new Community had, at first, no special rule for observance. But the remembrance of S. Francis led them to adopt the Rule of S. Clare …. Philippa surpassed all the Sisters by her deep humility, her fervor in prayer and her great austerities. Though she held the office of Abbess, she, nevertheless, deemed herself the least in the monastery, performing the most lowly services of the house and doing all to lighten the burden of the Sisters.