Saint Colette of Corbie
The saint of the day is St. Colette, founder of the Poor Clare Colettines. Colette was a miracle baby, born to parents over sixty years of age, who had been praying for a child to Nicholas of Myra. Born at Corbie in Picardy, France in 1380, Nicolette was named in honor of St. Nicholas and was known by her nickname, Colette. Quiet and hard-working, Colette was a pious child who demonstrated a sensitive and loving nature. When Colette was 17, both of her parents died and was left her in the care of a Benedictine abbot. She distributed her inheritance to the poor and initially joined the Beguine and Benedictine orders, but neither one worked out for her. Instead, she became a third order Franciscan. At age 21, she renounced the world in order to spend her life alone in penance and prayer as an anchoress - walled into a cell whose only opening was a grilled window into a church. She left her cell in 1406 in response to a dream directing her to reform the Poor Clares. She entered t...