Deaconesses in Europe and their Lessons for America Part 7

There are other references in the works of the early Puritans that indicate that the office of deaconess was as well known and recognized as were the other offices that were named in accordance with the usages of the primitive Church.

In the early part of the seventeenth century it still survived, as we shall see from a quaint and curious picture that is of especial interest to all Americans, because it portrays what took place in that community of pious souls who furnished us the men we delight to honor as the Pilgrim Fathers. A number of these heroic souls, who could give up their country, but would not yield their faith, went forth from England in 1608, and settled in Amsterdam. They preserved in a foreign land their own Church usages, as the following words show: "In Amsterdam there were about three hundred communicants, and they had for their pastor and teacher those two eminent men before named (Johnson and Ainsworth); and had at one time four grave men for ruling elders, three able, G.o.dly men for deacons, and one ancient widow for a deaconess, who did them service many years, though she was sixty years of age when she was chosen. She honored her place, and was an ornament to the congregation. She usually sat in a convenient place in the congregation, with a little birchen rod in her hand, and kept little children in awe from disturbing the congregation. She did frequently visit the sick and weak, especially women, and as there was need called out ladies and young women to watch and do them other helps as their necessity should require; and if there were poor she would gather relief for them of those that were able, or acquaint the deacons. And she was obeyed as a mother in Israel and an officer of Christ."[53]

Whether the "ancient widow" with the little "birchen rod" had any followers in the early Puritan communities of the Plymouth Colony we cannot say, as there are no records that throw light on the subject; but the history of early New England Congregationalism gives us one indication that the office was recognized in the New World. In the Cambridge Platform, a system of Church discipline agreed upon by the elders and messengers of the New England churches a.s.sembled in synod at Cambridge, in 1648, the seventh chapter enumerates the duties of elder and deacons, and then adds, "The Lord hath appointed _ancient widdows_, where they may be had, to minister in the Church, in giving attendance to the sick, and to give succor unto them and others in the like necessities." The same confusion of thought concerning the Church widow and the deaconess is here seen, but there is evident the recognition of the services that women were officially to render the Church.

In the early part of the present century Southey voiced the complaint, long reiterated, that Protestantism had no missionaries. We who live in the closing years of the same century, surrounded by the multiplied evidences of the extent of missions, when the Protestants of the world are expending nearly ten millions of dollars annually, and employing nearly six thousand men and women as missionaries, cannot realize the change that has taken place. In 1830 Southey again wrote: "Thirty years hence another reproach may also be effaced, and England may have her Sisters of Charity." He had learned to know their value when serving as a volunteer in Wellington's army, and a year after the battle of Waterloo he had visited the Beguines at Ghent, and what he saw deeply impressed him. "We should have such women among us," he said. "It is a great loss to England that we have no Sisters of Charity. There is nothing Romish, nothing unevangelical in such communities; nothing but what is right and holy; nothing but what belongs to that religion which the apostle James has described as 'pure and undefiled before G.o.d the Father.'"[54]

Southey's prophecy has come true. England to-day in her deaconesses possesses her Sisters of Charity. How has this change been brought about? The acquaintance of Mrs. Fry with Fliedner, and her visit to Kaiserswerth, led her to introduce into England the practical training of nurses for the sick. The Nursing Sisters' Inst.i.tution in Devons.h.i.+re Square, Bishop's Gate, was founded through her efforts in 1840, and still exists "to train nurses for private families, and to provide pensions for aged nurses."[55]

In 1842, Fliedner came to London, accompanied by four sisters, at the invitation of the German Hospital at Dalston. These deaconesses won golden opinions from the hospital authorities for their quiet, efficient manner, and their trained skill. The hospital continues to be served by them, but the Sisters now come from the mother house at Darmstadt.

Kaiserswerth and its deaconesses became more widely known through the life and inestimable services of Florence Nightingale. When a child, one of Fliedner's reports fell into her hands. Its perusal marked an era in her life. It made clear to her what she should do. She would go to Kaiserswerth, and fit herself for a nurse. Her childish resolve never wavered. "Happy is the man who holds fast to the ideals of his youth."

Florence Nightingale held fast to hers. She went to Kaiserswerth at two different times, and through her deeds and her writings the care of the sick in England has been completely transformed. She has won a nation's grat.i.tude, and now is living in honored old age in one of the London inst.i.tutions founded mainly by the money that she contributed, and which she obtained by selling some valuable gifts given her by a foreign government in acknowledgment of her care of its wounded soldiers during the Crimean war.

Another woman distinguished in England's philanthropies is Agnes Jones, who left a home of wealth and refinement to receive her training also at Kaiserswerth. Returning to England she gave her time and talents in single-hearted devotion to the care of the poor in the Liverpool work-house, and met death in the midst of her labors. The training which led two such women to accomplish such n.o.ble deeds naturally was recognized as valuable, and Kaiserswerth soon became an honored name in England.

In 1851 Miss Nightingale sent out anonymously her little book ent.i.tled _An Account of the Inst.i.tution of Deaconesses_, which added to the knowledge already in circulation about the movement in Germany.

Meanwhile articles were appearing in the reviews. In 1848 one was written in the _Edinburgh Review_ by John Malcolm Ludlow, who later, in 1866, gave the results of the thoughts and studies of a number of years in _Woman's Work in the Church_, the best historical study of the subject up to the date at which it was written. Since then the Germans have pushed their historical investigations further, and the work needs to be revised and to be brought down to the present time.

In _Good Words_ for 1861 there were two articles by Dr. Stevenson, of the Irish Presbyterian Church, ent.i.tled "The Blue Flag of Kaiserswerth,"

afterward incorporated in his work, _Praying and Working_, a book too little known among us.

The great upholder of the deaconess cause in the Church of England was the late Dean of Chester, Rev. J. S. Howson. His essay, first published in the _Quarterly Review_, was amplified and issued in book form in 1860 under the t.i.tle _Deaconesses_. It won many friends. The cause remained a favorite one with him, and he constantly advocated it by speech and by deed. Since his death his latest thoughts, which remained substantially the same as those that he first advanced, have been published in a work ent.i.tled _The Diaconate of Women_.

Within the Church of England, however, the deaconess cause has not met the same prosperous development that it has obtained in connection with certain independent inst.i.tutions, notably that of Mildmay.

Among the inst.i.tutions on the Continent, as well as in the pages of this work up to the present, the terms "sister" and "deaconess" are used synonymously, to indicate one and the same person. But when we come to consider the deaconess inst.i.tutions within the Church of England we cannot continue to use these two names in the same way. A deaconess is a member of a deaconess inst.i.tution, actively engaged in charitable deeds, but, like the deaconess on the Continent, she can sever her connection with it when adequate cause presents itself, and return to her family and friends. A sister belongs to a sisterhood which closely resembles the Roman Catholic sisterhoods in many features. These sisterhoods began in 1847 with a number of ladies brought together through the influence of Dr. Pusey, who formed themselves into a community to live under its rule. Their influence and number increased, and twenty-three sisterhoods are mentioned in the last official report.[56]

Doubtless it was the activity and great usefulness of the continental deaconess houses that provided the stimulating examples which acted on the Church of England and led to the rise of sisterhoods and deaconess inst.i.tutions. But the two opposing tendencies within the Episcopal Church--namely, that which desires to approach the Church of Rome, with which it feels itself in sympathy on many points, and that which views with disfavor any conformity to it, and strives to keep to the landmarks set at the great Reformation--these two distinct tendencies are closely reflected in the woman's work of the Anglican Church.[57] The sisterhoods are distinctly under the fostering care of the former element, the deaconesses are manifestly favored by the latter.

Sisterhoods, again, differ among themselves, some being strongly conventual in their life and practice, adopting the three vows of poverty, chast.i.ty, and obedience, and a few even advocating penance and confession. The vows are taken for life, and, in connection with the view of the sacred obligation to life-long service, great stress is laid upon the position of the sister as the "bride of Christ"--the same thought of the mysterious union with the heavenly Bridegroom that is so dwelt upon in the nunneries of the Catholic Church. With such views Protestants, distinctly such, can have no sympathy. Those who look upon the deaconess as a valuable member of the Church economy do so because they regard her as a Christian woman, strengthened and disciplined by special training to do better service for Christ in the world. This is the recognized difference: "The sisterhood exists primarily for the sake of forming a religious community, but deaconesses live together for the sake of the work itself, attracted to deaconess work by the want which in most populous towns is calling loudly for a.s.sistance; and with a view of being trained, therefore, for spiritual and temporal usefulness among the poor."[58]

There are now seven deaconess establishments in the Church of England, each having a larger or smaller number of branches, with diocesan sanction and under the supervision of clergymen.[59]

The first of these was founded in 1861, and is now known as the London Diocesan Deaconess Inst.i.tution. At that time Kaiserswerth was accepted as its model; deaconesses were sent there to be trained; Kaiserswerth rules were adopted as far as possible, and a modification of the Kaiserswerth dress for the sisters. The house was then represented at the triennial Conferences in Germany, and in the list of mother houses published at Kaiserswerth[60] the name still appears. It would seem, however, that now the Kaiserswerth connection is entirely set aside by the London house, for in an historical sketch of the revival of deaconesses in the Church, that is found in the organ of the inst.i.tution, called _Ancilla Domini_, for March, 1887, there is no mention made of any of the continental houses. The Anglican Church apparently dates the entire work from the setting apart of its first deaconess, Elizabeth C. Ferard, in 1861, as she was the first to receive consecration through the touch of a bishop's hand. The former connection with Kaiserswerth and the great work carried on in Germany from 1836 to the present time are quite ignored.

Besides the London house already mentioned an East London deaconess home was opened in 1880, to provide deaconesses and church-workers for East London. Besides the deaconesses and probationers thirty-two a.s.sociates are connected with this home. The a.s.sociates are ladies who do not intend to become deaconesses, but give as much time as they can to the work. They live with the deaconesses, conform to the rules, and wear the garb, but pay their own expenses. These a.s.sociates are a highly important part of the working force. They form a valuable tie connecting the sisters with sources of influence and aid that would otherwise be closed to them. Nearly always they are ladies of independent means, and come for longer or shorter periods to relieve the deaconesses, their zeal often being as great as that of the sisters whose places they take.

Besides these houses there are homes located at Maidstone, Chester, Bedford, Salisbury, and Portsmouth, in the respective dioceses of Canterbury, Chester, Ely, Salisbury, and Winchester.

In the home at Portsmouth sisters not only engage in nursing and parish work, but are also given special training for penitentiary and out-of-door rescue work. They also have a home for the rescue of neglected children.

The Salisbury Home is beautifully situated in the quiet cathedral city of the same name. The house is a picturesque and venerable mansion, covered with clinging green vines, opening out into a garden which in olden times belonged to the convent. There is in connection with the home an inst.i.tution for training girls for domestic service, supported by the funds of a charity given for that purpose. The whole service of the house is done by the girls. They attend upon the deaconesses and the ladies who board there to receive training in the hospital. Each deaconess pays for board and lodging while training, and, if able to do so, when she returns for rest, or a visit to her old home.

In other houses the deaconess is expected to keep her own room in order, and may have some duties in the house, but servants do the rough work.

The social status of the English deaconesses is, as a rule, markedly different from the German deaconesses. Here ladies of rank and inherited social traditions, of refinement, of accomplishments, and of education, many of them women of means, defraying their entire expenses and often those of their poorer sisters, are largely represented among the deaconesses. On the other hand, the German deaconesses, as we have seen, are largely of that station in life that furnishes many for domestic service. Although of course there are among them women of all ranks and all degrees of education, still such women form the larger number; and the conditions under which Fliedner began the work, as well as the difference of custom and habit in the two countries, incline the German houses to maintain the rules of service by which nearly every detail of domestic service in their inst.i.tutions is cared for by the deaconesses.

There is more of ceremony and formality in the English deaconess inst.i.tutions which are under the direction of the Church of England. At Salisbury, for instance, the candidate must reside in the home for three months, that her ability and efficiency may be tested. If accepted, she then puts on a gray serge habit, a leathern girdle, white cap, black bonnet, the veil and cloak of a probationer, and is admitted to the "degree" of a probationer at a special service. The year of probation having come to an end, she is again presented to the bishop, and is set apart as a deaconess by the laying on of hands. This time the habit is changed from gray to blue, and a black ebony cross, with one of gold inlaid, is hung upon her neck.[61]

This is very different from the way in which Fliedner regarded the dress and adornment of the deaconesses for whom he was responsible. The king of Prussia desired to present them with a small silver cross as their badge of service, but the simple-hearted German pastor dissuaded him, saying that the deaconesses needed no ornament save a meek and quiet spirit, and they must avoid symbols which would suggest Romish imitations.

The Strasburg deaconesses also at first wore a small cross, but Pastor Harter discontinued it when he found that the wearing of it gave occasion for complaint.

Yet however we may differ in the lesser details, of garb, of rules, and of ceremonies, from those accepted by some of the Church of England deaconess inst.i.tutions, we can give unstinted admiration to the lives of self-denial, and active, unceasing efforts in behalf of others, that we see among their numbers. Take, for instance, the little publication _The Deaconess_, issued by the East London Home, and notice the undertakings carried on by the members--district-visiting, nursing of the sick, mothers' meetings, Sunday-school teaching, Bible cla.s.ses, and all the mult.i.tudinous ways of meeting the squalor, poverty, ignorance, sickness, and sin of the poor of the east of London. There is no poetic enthusiasm that strengthens one for such work, the dirt, the degradation, the forlorn condition are so trying. The little children so precociously wicked, so preternaturally cunning, that the natural charm and attraction of childhood have wholly disappeared; the sights and sounds that a.s.sail the senses; the dulled, hopeless faces, the apathy, the stunted intellectual growth--these are the depressing influences that continually beset the deaconesses, and nothing short of G.o.d-given strength and Christ-like enthusiasm can enable these women to devote six, eight, and ten years of service to this worst city district, and to come forth with suns.h.i.+ny, peaceful faces, and sympathetic, loving hearts.

Taking the total number of deaconess inst.i.tutions under the Church of England, there are eighty one deaconesses, thirty-four probationers, and two hundred and twenty-nine a.s.sociates.[62]

So far, sisterhoods have proved more attractive to the women of the Church of England than have deaconess establishments. The latter do not seem to increase largely in numbers. Vexing questions have arisen as to how the deaconess should be set apart to her work. Should she be consecrated by the imposition of the bishop's hands? What relation should she have to the Church? These questions have been partially settled by the principles and rules that were drawn up in 1871 and were signed by the two archbishops and eighteen bishops. They define a deaconess as "a woman set apart by a bishop, under that t.i.tle, for service in the Church;"[63] placing her under the authority of the bishop of the diocese. These recommendations have not been formally adopted by the Church of England; they hold good only so far as they are accepted.

But there are other inst.i.tutions, lying outside of the boundaries of the State Church, which have developed more fully and prosperously than those within it. Of these we must speak first of the inst.i.tution of Dr. Laseron, which is more closely connected with Kaiserswerth than any other in England. In 1855 Dr. Laseron and his wife lost their only child; and as Mrs. Laseron walked through the streets with burdened heart she looked at the little children with quickened sympathy, and noticed how many were poor and hungry and scantily clothed. She talked with her husband, and they opened a "ragged school" for children. This increased and branched off, until now there is an orphanage, workhouses for boys, and a servants' training school for girls. Requests were frequently made for some of the older girls to act as nurses among the poor; and, finally, Dr. Laseron, who was a German by birth, determined to found a deaconess house and hospital. A small hospital of twelve beds was opened, and proved insufficient to meet the demands; and none could be accepted as deaconesses, as there was no opportunity to train them in so small a place. While waiting to see how the house could be enlarged, he mentioned his perplexity to Mr. Samuel Morley. This gentleman heard him with interest, and said that he was one of the directors of a large hospital; that at a recent meeting of the directors a Catholic bishop had offered to send Sisters of Charity who, without compensation, should nurse the sick, and he had thought what a fine thing it would be if the Protestant Church had also its women of piety who could devote themselves to a similar work. The result of the conversation was that Mr. Morley contributed forty thousand dollars, with which Dr. Laseron purchased a site in Tottenham, built a hospital with fifty beds, and a deaconess was called from Kaiserswerth to superintend it. The hospital has been again enlarged, so that it now accommodates one hundred patients. Sixty-four deaconesses are connected with it, who are at service in the hospitals of Cork, Dublin, Scarborough, and Sunderland.

This inst.i.tution is unsectarian, and has met with special aid from non-conformists. It still keeps in close relation to Kaiserswerth, and is represented at the Conferences. It has constantly thriven, and the mother-house at Tottenham is a center for various benevolent enterprises.

In connection with Dr. Barnardo's Orphanage there is also a deaconess house. Harley House, the missionary training-school under the direction of Dr. and Mrs. Grattan Guinness in East London, has a deaconess home as one of its branches. The Kilburn (St. Augustine's) Orphanage of Mercy, and the London Bible-women's Mission are also centers for the training and organizing of women's work in London.

We must pause more at length over the prison mission under the care of Mrs. Meredith. American women are beginning to occupy themselves with questions of philanthropy and religious activity to an extent not before equaled. The women's prisons in England are especially fruitful of suggestions to us, as many here are interested in having our women prisoners separated in prisons by themselves, as has already been attempted in a few States. Mrs. Meredith's work is in behalf of the prisoners after they have served their sentence and are discharged. She is the daughter of General Lloyd, who was formerly governor-general of prisons in Ireland. As a little child she was accustomed to go about with her father, and the interior of prisons became familiar to her.

Later in life, when her family ties were broken, and her hands left free for service, her interest was engaged in behalf of the women convicts who were discharged from prison. She enlisted the support of other ladies of like views, able to a.s.sist her, and in 1866 the Prison Gate Mission began, which has continued to the present day. Every morning, as the gate of Millbank prison swings back to allow those who have been released from penal bondage to come forth, a sister stands waiting to invite those who will go with her to a room near by, where breakfast awaits them; there are ladies to inquire about their plans and to offer them work. A great laundry was opened in 1867 to provide employment for these women. Here was.h.i.+ng is done for two cla.s.ses: for the poor and sick, to whom the service is given as a charity, and to those who pay for the work and whose money enables the mission to be partly self-supporting. Then the ladies extended their plans to take in the children of the prisoners. A law was pa.s.sed by Parliament which enabled Mrs. Meredith and her a.s.sociates to have the care of those children at the Princess Mary Village Home until they are sixteen years of age. This home was founded at Addlestone in 1870, and was named after the Princess Mary, d.u.c.h.ess of Teck, who aided in obtaining funds to build it. The inst.i.tution takes not only the female children of criminal mothers, but also little girls who are likely to drift into a career of crime. It is conducted on the cottage plan, each little house having ten inmates and a house mother to superintend it, and being complete in its own arrangements. There are eighteen cottages, a large, generous school-room, a small infirmary for the sick, and a little church. About two hundred children of criminals and the unfortunate cla.s.s are here cared for. Instead of allowing them to drift away and to perpetuate vice, crime, and immorality, they are taken entirely from their old surroundings, and new influences of knowledge and purity are thrown about them. There is no part of Mrs. Meredith's mission which has such hope for the future and is so valuable in results as this preventive work among the children.

There are also a woman's medical mission (1882), a Christian woman's union, a girls' school, and a deaconess house in Jerusalem under the control of the same a.s.sociation. How it arose is well intimated by the following extract from a letter from Mrs. Meredith to the author, dated March 9, 1889: "You will know that my course has been progressive with regard to the mode of congregating the women who joined me in working.

At first we merely came together daily from our own homes, as those who make a business concern do. Then to spare time and money we began to live together. The next step was to admit useful and devoted women who had no property, and to form an a.s.sociation with degrees of members.h.i.+p.

When we found ourselves becoming a corporation of importance, and having combined to acquire property and to found inst.i.tutions, we invited the help and counsel of some men of known eminence. Our inst.i.tutions are all branches of a parent stock, and are now placed in the charge of these good men, and we have taken the name of the Church of England Woman's Missionary a.s.sociation. I am daily persuaded of the value of such organizations."

In connection with the London West Central Mission there is an a.s.sociation of ladies called the Sisters of the People. "They are expected to be worthy of the beautiful name they bear. They are true sisters of the unprivileged and the disheartened; as ready to make a bed, cook a dinner, or nurse a baby as to minister to the higher need of the immortal spirit. The sisters live together in the neighborhood of their work, and wear a distinctive dress as a protection and for other reasons; but they take no vows, and are at liberty to withdraw from the mission at any time. Their work is directed by Mrs. Hughes. Katherine House, the residence of the Sisters of the People, was opened early in November, 1887, and from that day the work of the sisters dates its commencement. Their daily labors are very similar to those of the deaconesses of Mildmay, who work among the London parishes. Each sister has a district allotted to her, which she visits regularly and systematically. The first object which she sets before herself is to get to know the people, and to make them feel that she is their true sister and friend, irrespective of the fact that they are themselves good or bad, respectable or degraded. When once true friendliness is established, the way is opened for direct religious influence; and many, who in the first instance would never pay any attention to religion, will listen to an appeal from one whom they love and respect."[64]

Katherine House accommodates twelve sisters. A second house is urgently needed, and a strong plea is made for it in the Report.

There are besides "out sisters," who work with the sisters but reside at their own homes. This is a valuable feature of this mission, as it interests ladies who are living in their own homes, and yet who can be very useful to those who devote their whole work to the sisters' labor.

In the Report a great many instances are given which show what an intimate knowledge of the poor people is obtained by these sisters, and in what practical ways they minister to the bodily and spiritual needs of those whom they find in their house-to-house visitations. The term "sister," as it is used in the report of the London West Central Mission, is in all respects a synonym for "deaconess," as the name is understood in the large deaconess establishment at Mildmay. To the study of this we shall devote the following chapter.

[52] Daniel Neal's _History of the Puritans_, London, 1703, vol. i, pp. 344-346.

[53] _Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers of the Colony of Plymouth, from 1602 to 1625._ By Alex. Young. Second edition. Boston: C. E. Little & J. Brown, 1844, pp. 455, 456.

[54] Schafer, _Die Weibliche Diakonie_, vol. i, p. 207.

[55] _The Royal Guide to London Churches_ for 1866, 1867. By Herbert Fry, p. 162.

[56] _Official Year-book of the Church of England_, 1889.

[57] _Andover Review_, June, 1888, art., "European Deaconesses,"

p. 578.

[58] _Deaconesses in the Church of England._ Griffith & Farran: London, 1880, p. 22.

[59] _Official Year-book of the Church of England_, 1889.

[60] _Armen und Kranken Freund_, October, 1888.

[61] "Deaconess Work in England," _The Churchman_, May 19, 1888.

[62] I am indebted to the kindness of the Rt. Rev. the Bishop of Wakefield for these numbers, upon whom the mantle of Dean Howson seems to have fallen in caring for the deaconess cause.

[63] _London Diocesan Deaconess District Services._ [64] _First Annual Report of the London West Central Mission_, pp. 14-42.

CHAPTER XI.

MILDMAY INSt.i.tUTIONS.