Poor Lady

plural Poor Ladies

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

   ...his widow became a Poor Lady in the convent of Strala, where she long fulfilled the office of abbess...

   1912, St Clare and Her Order, page 264

   2 more examples

   Following Francis' example, Clare founded an order of religious women known as the Poor Ladies of Assisi (like Francis' Poor Men), and later as the Clarissas or Poor Clares in her honor.

   1991, Thomas Head, “Clare of Assisi”, in An Encyclopedia of Continental Women Writers

   The rule of Urban IV also clarified the nomenclature of the Clarissas, with the pope designating the group as the Order of St. Claire rather than Poor Ladies, or Poor Recluses, of San Damiano.

   1995, Caroline A. Bruzelius, “Queen Sancia of Mallorca and the Convent Church of Sta. Chiara in Naples”, in Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, volume 40, page 75

   Synonyms: Poor Clare