St Colette Boylet (1381-1447) emerges as one of the most significant reforming figures of the Poor Clare Order during the period of the Great Western Schism. Her work of reform did not stem from a desire for innovation, but from a deep desire to return to the authenticity of the original charism of St. Francis and St. Clare.
Her spiritual journey was characterised from childhood by a profound search for the Lord. Brought up in an environment of intense piety, she soon manifested a particular sensitivity towards prayer and contemplation. Her search for radicality initially led her to experiment with different forms of religious life - from the Beguines to the Benedictines - until her choice of reclusion, which she lived from 1402 to 1406 in a small cell next to the church of Corbie.
The reform she promoted was based on a few essential pillars. First of all, the centrality of personal and community prayer, with particular attention to the liturgy of the hours and the celebration of the Eucharist, for which she established weekly communion. Austerity and poverty were lived in a radical way: her communities renounced all property and income, living only on alms, according to the original Franciscan ideal. The sisters practised daily fasting (except Sunday and Christmas) and perpetual abstinence from meat.
The community dimension occupied a central place in her reform. Colette particularly insisted on concord and fraternal charity among the sisters, seeing in common life a privileged place of sanctification. Enclosure and silence were strictly observed, but always with a view to fostering union with God and mutual charity.
Her reform work always developed in deep communion with the Church, despite the complex period of the Great Schism. She actively worked for the unity of the Church and maintained close ties with figures such as St Vincent Ferrer and St John of Capestrano. Her reform obtained the approval of both the Franciscan General Minister and Pope Pius II in 1458.
Love for the poor characterised her entire life. Even as a young girl, she deprived herself of food to give it to the needy, stating: "If I did not love the poor, it seems to me that I would not love the good God." During her time as a recluse, she devoted herself to sewing clothes for the poor, and her work as a foundress (18 monasteries in 40 years) was always accompanied by a special concern for the poor.
Her spirituality, profoundly Christocentric and Eucharistic, was expressed in a life of intense contemplation, combined with tireless activity in the service of reform. Her work left a lasting imprint on the Franciscan family, so much so that even today there are many monasteries of the Colettine tradition scattered throughout the world, witnesses of a spiritual tradition that continues to speak to the contemporary Church.
