Clare of Assisi became the first of the Franciscan cloistered nuns, living with companions at the church of San Damiano under the guidance of St Francis of Assisi. Essential to the Franciscan way of life was the inner core of conformity to Christ whose only possessions were the clothes He wore.

Clare begged Pope Innocent III to grant them a special privilege that they should never have to possess or accept property from anyone, but should be allowed to live simply, without revenues, working for their living and relying on the gifts that people would give them. Clare then adapted the Rule of St Francis to safeguard this privilege for all Franciscan nuns and the Rule of St Clare received papal approval two days before her death in 1253.

Seventeenth century persecution in England forbad religious life but in 1619 two English women went to Brussels and recieved the Franciscan Habit in the church of the Franciscan Friars with the intention of setting up an English convent and, at great danger, other English women joined them where they established a small community. Attacks of the plague forced them first to Nieuport and then to Bruges. Despite hardship the nuns,all from England, flourished in Bruges until the revolutionary wars on the continent forced them to risk returning to England in 1794. After a dramatic escape from Belgium they settled in Winchester until 1808 and then moved to Taunton where they were living when the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 removed many of their difficulties. From here sixteen volunteers started the Woodchester community.

Constant hardship ensured that the nuns had always earned thier living from various sources. Currently the Woodchester community derives its main source of income from the production of altar breads. The chief work of the nuns however has never been interrupted - that of singing or chanting the Divine Office.

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