Clarissan

1. not comparableCatholicismOf or relating to the Order of Saint Clare.

   Strict enclosure presented additional complexities when the convent churches were open to the lay public, as was the case in the Clarissan order ("Poor Clares").

   2005, Caroline A. Bruzelius, “Hearing Is Believing: Clarissan Architecture, c. 1213–1340”, in Medieval Religion: New Approaches, page 249

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   There are two commissions for the Clarissan order (or Poor Clares), that warrant attention, the convent church at Santa Chiara in Bra and the convent church at Santa Chiara in Turin.

   2021, William Stargard, “Space and the Meaning of Distance in Bernardo Vittone's Architecture”, in Hemispheres and Stratospheres, page 46

2. not comparableOf or relating to someone named Clarissa.

   This sort of reading identifies the whole novel with a naïve Clarissan view...

   2008, Robert L. Chibka, “Henry Fielding, Mentalist”, in Henry Fielding in Our Time, page 93

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   The image of the crowds of fallen women can be seen as both the diametrical opposite to and the necessary contrast or "negative space" for the emergence of the unique woman, the paragon. Obviously, the "luster" of the Clarissan diamond is best perceived against these "common stones", to paraphrase Johnson.

   2005, Martha J. Koehler, Models of Reading: Paragons and Parasites in Richardson, Burney, and Laclos, page 138

plural Clarissans

1. CatholicismSynonym of Poor Clare: a nun of the Order of Saint Clare.

   The rule of the Clarissans, who take their name from St Clara, was very strict.

   1865, John Malcolm Forbes Ludlow, Women's Work in the Church, page 130

   Synonyms: Poor Clare