In 1310,  Blessed Sancia, Queen of Majorca (she was born queen...and later she became "sister Clare"), together with her pious husband, the king Robert of Angiò, built in Naples a large religious edifice, a real "franciscan citadel", composed by two separate monasteries, of different sizes.

The wider convent was for the Poor Clares, while the smaller one was for the little community of Friars Minor, whose task was to look after their "Poor Sisters", in accordance with St.Francis' wishes.  It was a great plan, born in Queen Sancia's heart as a safe shelter for all the Neapolitan girls who wished to devote themselves to Our Lord, and longed for a hidden life of silence and prayers.  Nowadays, this Holy place still carries on his mission of peace in Naples.  Queen Sancia was a wonderful woman, a marvellous christian and, especially, a great franciscan.  

The historical sources include a rich collection of letters, from Queen Sancia to the Friars Minor, and vice versa  As a tender mother, she exhorted them to follow faithfully the ideals of the "Poverello d'Assisi".   Her brothers, James and Philip of Majorca, became monks, and never felt ashamed of begging in the same town where their sister was Queen.  Ludovic,   king Robert's brother, renounced to the throne and became a Friar minor, then Bishop of Toulouse, and then....saint!!!  After king Robert's death, queen Sancia takes the veil, devoting herself to God.   She thirsts for poverty, she wants to be in hiding, so she chooses the small convent of the Holy Cross, near the sea, built by her request too,

She changes her name into "Clare", and lives as a poor sister among poor sisters until July 28th, 1345, dying after 18 months and 7 days of claustral life.  Many centuries go by...and the monastery alternates between years of splendour and periods of decline: between 1742 and 1757, its pure Gothic style is turned into Baroque.   During the following years, the number of the nuns keeps on decreasing...until 1939, when sister Maria Cherubina Cocle, the last descendant of the Poor Clares' family in Naples, the keeper of ancient traditions, brightens up the fading torch: she welcomes few sisters coming from Assisi's convent... and the blaze shines again!

They didn't settle down in the historical and monumental St.Clare's convent, but in the ex-monastery of the Friars Minor: poor, but full of austere beauty; small, but filled with joyful enchantment.  The new community grew up in the pure franciscan spirit,  following St.Clare's first Rule  and, in 1941, there were eighteen nuns already!  But the war bitterly hit this flourishing core... August, 4th, 1942: a violent air raid razed to the ground St.Clare's main church and most of the monastic edifice, so the Poor Clares had to move to another convent. The ancient "franciscan citadel" was rebuilt in 10 years of efforts and sacrifices: at last the nuns returned to the ex-monastery of the Friars Minor.

Padre Giacomo Bini OFM, General Minister,
with the Poor Clares of Naples

This is still their home, while the Ist Order's fraternity lives in the former convent of the Poor Clares.Today's nuns lead a contemplative life, though they live in the crowded heart of the old town, but their community is open to spiritual encounters and charitable works.  The Friars Minor take care of their liturgical, spiritual and cultural needs,