Augustine St. Clare, Tom's third owner and the father of the novel's saintly child, is an odd and interesting character, an amalgam of traits that we finally find coherent and human. He is a "Byronic" hero, a thoughtful spokesman against slavery, and a reluctant (and at last repentant) materialist.Clare of Assisi was an Italian saint and one of the first followers of Francis of Assisi. She founded the Order of Poor Ladies, a monastic religious order for women in the Franciscan tradition, and wrote their Rule of Life, the first set of monastic guidelines known to have been written by a woman. Clare was a noblewoman who took a vow of poverty and became a follower of St. Francis of Assisi. She and her following of nuns devoted themselves to a cloistered life of prayer and penance, but, when the society spread elsewhere in Europe, some communities accepted property and revenues.In 1958 Pope Pius XII declared her patron of television, citing an incident during her last illness when she miraculously heard and saw the Christmas midnight mass in the basilica of San Francesco on the far side of Assisi.
