Deaconesses in Europe and their Lessons for America Jane M. Bancroft 1115 downloads.pdf

The Project Gutenberg eBook of
Deaconesses in Europe and their
Lessons for America
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.

Title: Deaconesses in Europe and their Lessons for America

Author: Jane M. Bancroft

Release date: March 5, 2007 [eBook #20747]

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20747

Credits: Produced by Barbara Tozier, David Wilson, Bill Tozier and
the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEACONESSES
IN EUROPE AND THEIR LESSONS FOR AMERICA ***

DEACONESSES IN EUROPE
and

Their Lessons for America

by

J A N E M . B A N C R O F T, P h . D

with an introduction

by

E D WA R D G . A N D R E W S , D . D . , L L . D .
Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church

“No life
Can be pure in its purpose and strong in its strife,
And all life not be purer and stronger thereby.”

NEW YORK and CINCINNATI
1890

IN GRATEFUL RECOGNITION,
to

THE EARNEST AND DEVOTED WOMEN WHO,

AS MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE ON DEACONESS
WORK
of

THE WOMAN’S HOME MISSIONARY
S O C I E T Y,

HAVE AIDED IN EXTENDING THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE
DIACONATE OF WOMEN,

THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY

BY THE AUTHOR.

AUTHOR’S NOTE.

The Author has aimed to present an accurate and concise statement of
the deaconess cause as it exists at the present time.
In all cases where it was possible, original sources of information have
been consulted.
Many friends, both in Europe and America, have given invaluable aid,
for which words of thanks are an inadequate recognition.
The excellent Index at the close of the volume was kindly prepared by
the Rev. J. C. Thomas.
Acknowledgments are also due to Mr. Gillett, Librarian of the Union
Theological Seminary, and to Mr. C. H. A. Bjerregaard, of the Astor
Library, for putting not only the facilities of the library, but their personal
assistance, at the service of the writer.
Jane M. Bancroft.
New York city, June 5, 1889.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

T H E D I A C O N AT E .

Compassion a Christian virtue—Brotherhood of all men in Christ—Foreign Missions—Home
Missions—Service of ministering compassion gives rise to the diaconate—Diaconate of women—
Its qualities—Field of labor Page 9

CHAPTER II.

D E A C O N E S S E S I N T H E E A R LY C H U R C H .

Little knowledge of early Church—Pliny’s letter—Apostolic Constitutions—Deaconesses,
widows, and virgins—Duties of the deaconess—Chrysostom, Olympias—Deaconesses in Western
Church—Decline in importance—Extinction—Influences that led to decay 18

CHAPTER III.

DEACONESSES FROM THE TWELFTH TO THE NINETEENTH
CENTURIES.

Béguines—Characteristics—Duties—Gerhard Groot—Sisters of the Common Life—
Obligations—Duties—Waldenses—Bohemian Brethren—Luther—Calvin—Reformed Church at
Wesel—Deaconesses in Amsterdam—Damsels of Charity—Mennonites and Moravians 34

C H A P T E R I V.

FLIEDNER, THE RESTORER OF THE OFFICE OF DEACONESS.

Efforts for the restoration of the office of deaconess made by Klönne—Amalie Sieveking—Von
Stein—Count von der Recke—Fliedner—His childhood—Youth—Student life—Pastorate and
travels—Marriage—First prison society—Founding of refuge—Need of training schools—
Rhenish-Westphalian Deaconess Society 46

C H A P T E R V.

T H E I N S T I T U T I O N S AT K A I S E R S W E RT H .

Opening of hospital training-school—Gertrude Reichardt—The Home-life—Normal school—
Fliedner’s wife—Publishing house—Orphan asylum—Insane asylum—Dispensary—Farm
—“Salem”—House of Evening Rest—Extension of work—Berlin—Foreign lands Jerusalem—
Beirut—Smyrna—Bucharest—Florence—Rome 61

CHAPTER VI.

T H E R E G U L AT I O N S AT K A I S E R S W E RT H A N D T H E D U T I E S A N D
S E RV I C E S O F T H E D E A C O N E S S E S .

Two classes of deaconesses—Nurses—Teachers—Qualifications—Probationers—Duties—
Service of consecration—Conferences—Table of results—Instances of work—Duisburg—
Schleswig-Holstein war—Austrian war—Franco Prussian war 79

CHAPTER VII.

O T H E R E S TA B L I S H M E N T S O N T H E C O N T I N E N T.

House at Strasburg—Mülhausen—Marthashof at Berlin—Neudettelsau—St. Loup—Riehen—
Zürich—Gallneukirchen—Characteristics of institutions—Countries where they exist 93

CHAPTER VIII.

DEACONESSES IN GERMAN METHODISM.

Origin of Bethany Society—House at Frankfort—Hamburg—Berlin—St. Gall—Zürich—Sister
Myrtha—House of Rest—“God’s Fidelity”—House regulations—Training—Results 110

CHAPTER IX.

D E A C O N E S S E S I N PA R I S .

Deaconess Home on Rue de Reuilly—Situation—School—Hospital—House of Correction—
Preparatory school—Instruction—Prison mission—Mademoiselle Dumas—Expenses of house—Its
founders—Deaconess house on Rue Bridaine—Character of work—Duties of the Sisters—Their
consecration—Importance of parish deaconesses 120

CHAPTER X.

DEACONESSES IN ENGLAND.

Early beginnings—The Puritans—Cambridge Platform—Southey’s complaint—Mrs. Fry—
Fliedner—Florence Nightingale—Agnes Jones—Distinction between “sister” and “deaconess”—
Institutions in Church of England—Garb—Ceremonies—Self-denying lives—Dr. Laseron’s
institutions and others—Prison mission of Mrs. Meredith—The Sisters of the People 142

CHAPTER XI.

M I L D M AY I N S T I T U T I O N S .

Rev. W. Pennefather—Sketch of his life—Building of hall and deaconess home at Mildmay—
Conference hall—Nursing hall—Mission and hospital at Bethnal Green—The deaconesses—Their
training—Expense—Expenses of institution 166

CHAPTER XII.

DEACONESSES IN SCOTLAND.

Church of Scotland—Organization of woman’s work—Report of committees—Scheme—
Adoption—Women’s Guild—Women-workers’ Guild—Deaconesses—Training—Syllabus of
lectures—Presbyterian Church of England and Ireland 189

CHAPTER XIII.

THE DEACONESS CAUSE IN AMERICA.

German Lutherans—Fliedner visits America—Philadelphia—Mother-house of Deaconesses—
Deaconesses in the Episcopal Church—Among the Presbyterians—The Methodist Episcopal
Church—Deaconess-home in Chicago—Action of General Conference—Fields of work 204

C H A P T E R X I V.

THE MEANS OF TRAINING AND THE FIELD OF WORK FOR
DEACONESSES IN AMERICA.

Advantages of the Home and Training-school—Field of work—In hospitals—Insane asylums—
Infant-schools—Teachers—The Home-mission deaconess—Her work in London—Similar work
needed in cities of the United States 228

C H A P T E R X V.

OBJECTIONS MET AND SUGGESTIONS OFFERED.

Objection that deaconesses resemble Catholic nuns—Their influence—Numbers in different
orders—Order of Charles—Objection to garb—Its advantages—Objection to the life answered—
Opinion of Bryce concerning American women—Women of Methodism—Advice to candidates—
Associates—The Church commended by its deeds 247

INTRODUCTION.

How far, and in what form, ought woman’s work in the Church to be
organized? What was the deaconess of St. Paul’s epistles? What light on
this subject do the primitive and the mediæval Churches yield us? Can
“sisterhoods” be established without weakening the sense of personal
responsibility in those Christian women who are not thus wholly set apart
to charitable and spiritual work? Can they be multiplied without danger of
introducing into Protestant communions the evils of the conventual life?
Are there modern instances of safe and successful organizations? What
good have they achieved, and what further good do they promise? In what
relation should such organizations stand to the authority and fostering care
of the Church? What should be their scope, spirit, methods? What
regulations are fundamental and indispensable? What perils are real and
possibly imminent?
To answer these, and other questions associated with them, this book is
written. Its authoress is a gifted daughter of the Church, well known in
literary and educational circles. During a protracted sojourn in Europe she
enjoyed unusual facilities for studying the deaconess work as carried on in
many places, and particularly in the institutions founded by Pastor
Fliedner at Kaiserswerth in Prussia, and in those at Mildmay in England.
She has also made a thorough and discriminating study of the subject as
developed in the early centuries of the Church and in the Middle Ages.
The book itself will amply reveal these facts, and cannot but contribute
largely to the guidance of the newly revived interest of the American
churches in the far-reaching question how Christian women may best
serve their Lord in serving the humanity which he has redeemed.
It appears at an opportune time. The General Conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, at its session in May, 1888, inserted in the
law of the Church a chapter on deaconesses, defining their duties and

providing for the appointment and oversight of them through the Annual
Conferences. This action was the natural outcome of a wide and increasing
appreciation of the service of Christian women in many departments of
Church work; and it was greatly furthered by the advocacy of Dr. J. M.
Thoburn, now the devoted and honored missionary bishop of India and
Malaysia. But it had not been the subject of any considerable previous
discussion in the periodicals of the Church, and there was not in the
Church a widely diffused or an accurate knowledge of the history, scope,
possibilities, or perils of such an organization. The promptness, however,
with which the provision thus made by the General Conference has been
seized upon by the Church in several of our large cities, indicates that the
time was ripe for the movement. But information is still scanty; ideas
concerning the aim and place of the deaconess work are crude; methods
have been very little digested; the foundations of local homes evidently
may come to be very imperfectly laid; and the movement may easily come
to naught.
This book, it is hoped, will do a twofold work. It will awaken a lively
interest in a movement already arrived at large proportions in some parts
of European Protestantism; and it will guide those among us who are
studying how best to organize, against the sin and suffering of the world,
the practically unlimited resources of Christian women. Whenever any one
shall in some good degree apprehend what helpfulness for the lost as yet
lies undeveloped in the hearts and hands of the daughters of the Church,
and what honor may yet come to Christianity by the rightly directed use of
this power, he will welcome a volume which, like the present one, offers
such guidance as history, observation, and earnest reflection yield on the
question at issue.
Edward G. Andrews.
New York, May 10, 1889.

DEACONESSES IN EUROPE.

CHAPTER I.

THE D I A C O N AT E .

In the ruins of the old cities of Greece and Rome we find buildings that
were used for public purposes of all kinds—forums, theaters,
amphitheaters, circuses, and temples of worship. Every provision was
made for the entertainment of the people, and for their political and
intellectual needs. But nowhere do we find the ruins of structures,
belonging either to the public or to private individuals, indicating that any
attempt was ever made to care for the feeble-minded, the insane, the deaf,
the blind, the sick, or the aged; those that in every nation of modern times
are the wards of the State and the definite objects of religious
ministrations.
The ruins cannot be found because such buildings never existed. No
provision was made for those suffering from bodily infirmities, because so
far as the State could control circumstances they were not allowed to exist.
Children who were defective in any way were put to death. In Sparta this
measure was carried out under government supervision. Even Plato in his
model republic has all children of wicked men, the misshapen, or the
illegitimate put out of existence, that they may not be a burden to the
State.1

With the coming of Christ new elements were introduced into the
civilization of the world; elements of kindliness, of compassion, of
sympathy of man toward his fellow-man, that up to this time had not been
known. There was a new revelation of the brotherhood of all men in the
fatherhood of God: “We are all one in Christ Jesus.”
This spirit of compassion and of sympathy has grown with every
century in the Christian era, and at no time has it been stronger in the
history of the world than it is to-day. Well has one American historian said:
“To a generation which knows but two crimes worthy of death, that
against the life of the individual and that against the life of the State;
which has expended fabulous sums in the erection of reformatories,
asylums, and penitentiaries, houses of correction, houses of refuge, and
houses of detention all over the land; which has furnished every State
prison with a library, with a hospital, with workshops, and with schools,
the brutal scenes on which our ancestors looked with indifference seem
scarcely a reality. Yet it is well to recall them, for we cannot but turn from
the contemplation of so much misery and so much suffering with a deep
sense of thankfulness that our lot has fallen in a pitiful age, when more
compassion is felt for a galled horse or a dog run over at a street-crossing
than our great-grandfathers felt for a woman beaten for cursing, or a man
imprisoned for debt.”2
The spirit of Christ has penetrated even where his rule is not
acknowledged, and the humanitarianism of the present day is simply the
leaven of Christian love working among the masses of men.
In the Christian world the effort to realize the brotherhood of all men
in Christ is producing large results. Treasures of money, and infinitely
more precious treasures of men, are every year devoted to this one object.
The cause of Protestant foreign missions is not yet a century old, but the
latest available statistics tell us that the following sums are being
contributed annually for this great work:3

32 American societies contribute $3,011,027
28 British " " 5,217,385
27 Continental " " 1,083,170
87 societies contribute $9,311,582

With this large sum American societies are employing 986 men, and
1,081 women; British societies, 1,811 men, and 745 women; Continental
societies, 777 men, and 447 women. Total, 3,574 men, 2,273 women.
Visible results of faithfulness in work:

Members in American societies 242,733
" British " 340,242
" Continental " 117,532
Total membership in foreign lands 700,507
Children in the Sunday-schools 626,741

The subject of home missions is to-day attracting greater attention than
ever before. “Die Innere Mission” of Germany, the various forms the work
assumes in England, the many societies in the United States occupied by
the questions of city evangelization, work among the Mormons, the
treatment of the Indians, care for the colored race, and other phases of
home work show that Christians are fully understanding that it is wise to
build over against our own house.
Certainly the reproach cannot justly be made that the Church of Christ
is neglectful of the precept, “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do
good unto all men.”
This is genuine service of man to man, and the motive of the service is
love to God. Every revelation of God is of ministering love and
compassion, and the efforts of his disciples to imitate the divine love have
indelibly stamped upon modern civilization the Christian impress.
The service of ministering compassion is so clearly one of the duties of
Christ’s Church that of necessity there must be ordinances touching the
exercise of this duty. So in Acts vi, 3, we read of the appointment of the
deacons, “men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and of wisdom,” to
see that the service of the tables was not neglected.
But Christian women have ever had special gifts in caring for the poor
and sick and helpless, and the women of apostolic times must necessarily
have had their part in these services of love. In addition to the diaconate
appointed by the apostles recorded in the sixth chapter of Acts, we must
look for a female diaconate as an office in the Church. This we do not fail
to find. In Rom. xvi, 1, we read: “I commend unto you Phebe, a deacon of
the church which is at Cenchrea.” Such at least would have been the form

of the verse if our translators had rendered the Greek word here translated
servant as they rendered the like word in the sixth chapter of Acts, the
third of the First Epistle to Timothy, and in other passages of the apostolic
writings.
“That ye receive her in the Lord as becometh saints, and that ye assist
her in whatsoever business she hath need of you: for she hath been a
succorer of many, and of myself also.” These words of St. Paul are
especially valuable as an apostolic witness for the existence of the office
of deaconess at the time when he wrote. They are even more than that.
They are an apostolic commendation of the office addressed to the
Christian Church of all times to accept the deaconess in the Lord, and to
assist her “in whatsoever business she hath need of you.”
Whether Priscilla, spoken of with Aquila as “my helpers in Christ
Jesus,” or Tryphena, Tryphosa, and the beloved Persis, who “labored
much,” or Julia and Olympas, all mentioned in the same chapter, were or
were not deaconesses we have no means of knowing.
Outside of this chapter we do not find other references to the order in
the New Testament, unless it be in 1 Tim. iii, 11. In the midst of a lengthy
description of the qualifications of deacons is interjected the exhortation:
“Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all
things.” Now the word wives has no authority from the Greek word, which
is simply women. Bishop Lightfoot remarks, in his book on the authorized
version of the New Testament, “If the theory of the definite article (in the
Greek) had been understood our translators would have seen that the
reference is to deaconesses, not to wives of the deacons.”
Many eminent scholars are of the same opinion, among whom are
Chrysostom, Grotius, Bishop Wordsworth, and Dean Alvord. Dean
Howson adds: “It should be particularly noticed in connection with this
that in the early part of the chapter no such directions are given concerning
the wives of the bishops, though they are certainly as important as the
wives of the deacons; so that it can scarcely be thought otherwise than that
the apostle’s directions were for the deaconesses, an order which we find
in ecclesiastical records for some centuries side by side with that of
deacons.”4
Those mentioned in Tit. ii, 3, and in 1 Tim. v, 9, cannot be considered
as holding the office of a deaconess. They belong distinctively to the class
of widows, who held a position of honor in the Church. St. Paul had clear

conceptions of the administrative needs of the Church, and it is not
probable that he would set apart to the service of deaconesses, which had
many difficult duties, those who were already sixty years old.
The many names of faithful women mentioned in his letters as helpers
in the Church are important witnesses for the great apostle’s appreciation
of woman’s co-operation in the work of the Church, although his judgment
was necessarily limited in some directions by the influence of the times in
which he lived.
Let us examine the requirements for the diaconate of the early Church.
The word diaconate means service; helpful service. We use the word to
designate service for the Church of Christ; service that more particularly
concerns itself with administering the charities of the Church and
performing its duties of compassion and mercy. The men who were
selected for this office were to be men of “honest report.” They must have
led a blameless life. Those who had repented of wrong-doing and
reformed their lives were excluded from the office, because they had lost a
good report “of them which are without.” Pre-eminently they must be men
of spiritual experience, proven Christians, “full of the Holy Ghost and of
wisdom.” They were also to have practical gifts that would make them
efficient and capable in the duties of every-day life. 1 Tim. iii, 8.
These are some of the qualifications spoken of as belonging to the
diaconate, and are the same in application to either sex. The woman
deacon must, however, besides possessing the above qualities, be
unmarried or a widow. The married woman has her calling at home, and
cannot combine with that an official calling in the Church, although she
may be a valuable lay helper.
The field of labor of the women deacons of apostolic times and of the
present is essentially the same. The conditions of society and of the
Church, however, are totally dissimilar. We must, therefore, look to see
new adaptations of the same useful qualities. In other words, we shall not
expect to take the female diaconate of the days of the apostles and
transport it unchanged, into nineteenth century environments. We shall
rather expect to see the invariably useful qualities of the diaconate of
women adapted to the needs of the sinful, sorrowing, ignorant, and
helpless of the age in which we live.

1 Heidenthum und Judenthum, von Döllinger, p. 692. Regensburg, 1857.

2 MacMaster’s History of the United States, vol. i, p. 102.
3 Statistics from North American Review, February, 1889, “Why am I a
Missionary?”
4 Deaconesses, Rev. J. D. Howson, D.D., p. 236.

CHAPTER II.

DEACONESSES IN THE E A R LY C H U R C H .

To understand the position of the deaconess with respect to the modern
Church we must know something of the relation in which she stood to the
early Church. Concisely as may be we must recall the story of the
intervening centuries to the present, that we may learn the true position of
deaconesses in modern times.
We have very little knowledge of the early Church. During the first
century and the first half of the second century continued persecution
compelled the religious communities of the new faith to live in almost
complete seclusion. For the same reason little has been left on record of
those years, and it is impossible to form clear conceptions of Church
history during the period. The first trace which we find of the existence of
deaconesses after the times of the apostles comes to us from an entirely
outside source—from the official records of the Roman government.
Shortly after the close of the first century the Emperor Trajan sent the
younger Pliny as prefect to Bithynia in Asia Minor. At the imperial
command he began a persecution of the Christians, but interrupted it for a
time to obtain further instructions from the emperor. His letter and the
reply still exist. In the course of what he wrote Pliny says that he had
sought to learn from two maids, who were called “ministræ” (“ex duabus
ancillis, quæ ministræ dicebantur,” Book x, chap. xcvii), or helpers, the
truth of what the Christians had said, and had even deemed it necessary to
put them to torture, but could obtain evidence of nothing save unbounded
superstition. Here is independent testimony of singular interest that
deaconesses, followers of Phebe, were found in Christian communities of
Asia Minor at the beginning of the second century, and that they kept the
faith, when put to cruel martyrdom.
The clearest conceptions of the characteristics and duties of
deaconesses of the early Church we obtain from the Apostolic
Constitutions, a collection of ecclesiastical instructions that gradually

grew up in the Eastern Church, and were gathered into one work in the
fourth century. These instructions were of unequal antiquity, ranging from
the earliest usages to the rules and practices last determined upon.
Whether the Apostolic Constitutions have all the authority that some claim
for them is a question not here to be decided. If not genuine, they must
have been written at a very early time, and from that fact possess a
historical value of their own. “They prove beyond a doubt that there was a
time in the history of the Church when a clear idea was held by some
writer of the office of the female deacon as essential to the discipline of
the Church.”1 From them we learn of three distinct types of women
connected with the administration of the Church—deaconesses, widows,
and virgins. Deaconesses and widows date from apostolic times, the
Church virgins from a somewhat later period. The distinction between
widows and deaconesses was not at first clearly maintained. By some
Church fathers widows were called deaconesses, and deaconesses widows.
It was only after the lapse of time that we find the classes clearly
distinguished, and when that time is reached the deaconesses have become
exalted in office, being regarded as belonging to the clergy,2 while the
widows have lost somewhat the honorable position first accorded to them.
The deaconesses are active ministering agents, caring for the necessities of
others; the widows have passed the period of active service, and having
won the respect and protection of the Church are supported in old age
from a fund set apart for that purpose. In the Apostolic Constitutions the
order of deaconesses stands forth independently, its many official
activities are mentioned, and the importance of its service emphasized.
By combining the different references we obtain a tolerably clear
picture of the deaconess and her duties. She must be a “pure virgin,” or “a
widow once married, faithful, and worthy” (Book vi, chap. xvii). Her
special duties were as follows:
(a.) She was a door-keeper at the women’s entrance to the church. This
was an ancient service, dating back to the oldest times.3 Ignatius died a
martyr’s death not long after the beginning of the second century, and in a
letter which bears his name is written, “I greet the doorkeepers of the holy
doors, the deaconesses who are in the Lord.” This guardianship was
maintained not only in times of persecution, but as a matter of order and
discipline in times of peace.

(b.) She showed women their places in the congregation, being
especially bound to look after the poor and strangers, giving each due
attention.
(c.) She instructed the female catechumens. She also visited the
women’s apartments, where male deacons could not enter, carried
messages to the bishops, and acted as a missionary. Teaching was an
important part of the duties of the early deaconesses.
(d.) The deaconess had certain duties in connection with the baptism of
women that were considered important and indispensable.
(e.) In times of persecution she visited those who were oppressed or in
prison, and ministered to their bodily and spiritual needs. She seems to
have been less endangered in performing these acts than were men. Lucian
alludes to the service of these devoted women in prisons. She also cared
for the sick and sorrowing, being especially “zealous to serve other
women.”
(f.) On occasion she was a mediator when there was strife in families,
or among friends. Both to deacons and deaconesses “pertain messages,
journeys to foreign parts, ministrations, services.” The ever-to-be-
remembered journey of Phebe to Rome, when a whole system of theology
was committed to her keeping, was quite within the sphere of her duties. It
has also been said that to them was given the safe-keeping of the holy
books in periods of persecution. The enumeration of these principal duties
implying so many lesser details helps us to understand that “deaconesses
are needed for many purposes” (Book ii, chapter xv). The deaconess was
ordained to her work, as is attested by a great number of authorities.4 “It
was because men felt still that the Holy Ghost alone could give power to
do any work to God’s glory that they deemed themselves constrained to
ask such power of him, in setting a woman to do Church service.”5
The following beautiful prayer of ordination, attributed to the apostle
Bartholomew, bears within it certain proofs of the very early existence of
the ceremony, as well as of the order of deaconesses:
“Eternal God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Creator of man and
women, who didst fill Miriam and Deborah and Hannah and Huldah with
thy Spirit, and didst not disdain to suffer thine only-begotten Son to be
born of a woman; who also in the tabernacle and temple didst appoint
woman-keepers of thine holy gates, look down now upon this thine
handmaid, who is designated to the office of deaconess, and cleanse her

from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, that she may worthily
execute the work intrusted to her to thine honor, and to the praise of thine
Anointed, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be honor and adoration
forever. Amen.”
The allusion to the creation of man and woman, to the women in the
Old Testament who were called to special service, as well as to Mary, the
mother of the Lord, while no reference is made to the women of the
apostolic Church who were so highly commended, and held in veneration
as worthy of all imitation, go to prove that the origin of this prayer was so
near the time of the apostles as to be almost contemporary with them.
The office of the deaconess, as described by the Apostolic
Constitutions, fitted into the needs of the Eastern Church and the
requirements of Greek life. It was in the East that the diaconate of women
originated, and here that it attained its greatest growth. In the West custom
did not demand the careful separation of the sexes as in the East, and
church relations were less bound by social usages; consequently we meet
with fewer references to deaconesses in the works of the Latin fathers, and
the diaconate of women is not so deeply rooted in the affections of the
church communities as we have found it in the Greek Church.6
The fourth century was the blossoming period of woman’s diaconate,
when it attained its highest importance. All the leading Greek fathers and
Church authorities of the age make mention of it. The office is spoken of
as worthy of all honor, filled by women of rank from noble families, and
those of wealth and ability. It found its special advocate and protector in
Chrysostom, “John of the Golden Mouth,” who was Bishop of
Constantinople from 397 until 407 A.D. He seems to have had the ability,
rare for that age, of understanding the value of the services of Christian
women, and through his wise guidance and encouragement had over them
almost unbounded influence. Forty-six deaconesses were under his
direction—forty attached to the mother church at Constantinople, and six
belonging to a small church in the suburbs. A number of these were
closely identified with his history, either as relatives or friends, and
through his writings their memory is preserved. Of these are Nicarete, of a
noble family of Nicomedia. We are told she was of a modest, retiring
nature, and would not take places of responsibility when urged to do so by
Chrysostom. We note a strong tendency toward the later celibate life of the
nuns when we read that she was extolled for “her perpetual virginity and

holy life.” Sabiniana was the aunt of Chrysostom. To Amprucla the bishop
wrote two letters still extant.7 They are filled with words of consolation for
the religious persecution she has undergone. In one of them he says:
“Greatly did we sympathize with your manliness, your steadfast and
adamantine understanding, your freedom of speech and boldness.”
“Manliness of soul” seems to have held a high place in the bishop’s
favorite qualities. In another place, writing to the same deaconess, he
praises “your steadfast soul, true to God; yea, rather, your noble and most
manly soul.”
Pentadia and Procla were closely associated with Olympias. In a letter
to Pentadia, Chrysostom writes: “For I know your great and lofty soul,
which can sail as with a fair wind through many tempests, and in the midst
of the waves enjoy a white calm.”8 Reading such words of appreciation,
words that in other places approach dangerously near to adulation, we
better understand the influence Chrysostom exercised over the women of
his time, and their steadfast devotion to him. They had the conviction that
all their efforts met with his sincere and profound appreciation and quick
responsive acknowledgment.
Pre-eminent among the friends of the great bishop was Olympias, of
whom Dean Howson said, “She is the queenly figure among the
deaconesses of the primitive Church.” To understand her life we must
recall the scenes by which she was surrounded and the age in which she
lived.9
In the great capital of the Eastern Empire, where the luxuriance and
magnificence of the Orient combined with the keen, quick intellectual life
of the Greeks; in the circle of the imperial court, with its intrigues, its
fashions, its favoritisms; at a time when outwardly much respect was paid
to the forms of religious life, but when the great and vital dogmas of the
Church were made the sport of witty sophistical disputations; when those
who endeavored to lead an earnest Christian life met with nearly as much
to oppose them as in periods of active persecution; such were her
environments. They were little favorable to the strength of mind, the
fixedness of purpose, the self-denial and Christian devotion that marked
this noble deaconess. Born in 368 A.D. of a heathen family of rank, owing
to her parents’ early death she was educated a Christian. In her seventeenth
year she married Nebridius, the prefect of the city, but after a married life
of twenty months he died, leaving her at eighteen years a widow, rich,

beautiful, and free to decide her future. The Emperor Theodosius desired
her to marry one of his kinsmen, but she refused, saying, “Had God
designed me to lead a married life he would not have taken my husband; I
will remain a widow,” and shortly after she was consecrated a deaconess
by Bishop Nectarius. The emperor, angered at her refusal, took from her
the use of her large fortune, and put it under the care of guardians until she
should be thirty years old, whereupon she only thanked him for relieving
her of the heavy responsibility of administering her estate, and begged him
to add to his kindness by dividing it between the poor and the Church.
Shamed out of his anger, the emperor soon restored her rights, and
when Chrysostom came to Constantinople her lavish and often unwise
generosity was felt in every direction, being compared to “a stream which
flows to the end of the world.” He reproved her unbounded liberality, and
advised her to administer alms as a wise steward who must render an
account. This counsel guided her into safer paths. Finally, when
Chrysostom was driven forth to banishment, by his advice she remained in
the city, and became a support for his followers and those who had been
dependent upon him. She met contemptuous treatment and judicial
persecutions, but continued her works of charity, and outlived the man
whose mind and heart had so influenced hers by eleven years. Chrysostom
wrote her many letters, of which seventeen are extant.10 They plainly
show the estimate he set upon the diaconate of women, and his endeavor
to wisely cherish it. Unfortunately, they also show exaggeration of
compliment and praise which detract from his words of sincere and honest
admiration. Too often, also, he gives undue value to works of mercy, and
exalts acts of ascetic self-denial.
The question of the age at which deaconesses could be received is a
vexed one. The confusion of apprehension touching deaconesses and
widows led to differing enactments at different times and places. The
restriction of age, however, must now have lost its force, as we find
Olympias a deaconess when not yet twenty years of age, and Makrina, the
sister of Gregory of Nyssa, was ordained when a young girl. Deaconesses
retained control of their property. In truth, a law of the State forbade them
to enrich churches and institutions at the expense of those having just
claims on them. Deaconesses also existed in the Church of Asia Minor.
Ignatius mentions them as at Antioch in Syria. They were in Italy and
Rome. The Church of St. Pudentiana, in the Eternal City, keeps alive the

memory of two deaconesses whose house is said to have stood on this site;
Praxedes and Pudentiana, the daughters of a Roman senator, who devoted
themselves, with all they had, to the service of the Church. Deaconesses
also penetrated to Ireland, Gaul, and Spain, lingering in the last named
country many years after they had passed out of knowledge elsewhere.
We find very little about this order of Christian workers in the Western
Church. There is a passage of Origen in a Latin translation which speaks
of the ministry of women as both existing and necessary, but in the great
Latin fathers, the contemporaries of Chrysostom, scarcely a mention
occurs. From the last half of the fifth century the diaconate of women
declined in importance.11 It was deprived of its clerical character by the
decrees passed by the Gallic councils of the fifth and sixth centuries. It
was finally entirely abolished as a church order by the Synod of Orleans,
593 A.D., which forbade any woman henceforth to receive the benedictio
diaconalis, which had been substituted for ordinatio diaconalis by a
previous council (Synod of Orange, 441). The withdrawing of church
sanctions made the deaconess cause a private one. But as such it existed
for hundreds of years, often under the patronage and protection of those
high in authority. About the year 600 A.D. the patriarch of Constantinople,
godfather of the Emperor Mauritius, built for his sister, who was a
deaconess, a church which for centuries was called the “Church of the
Deaconesses.” It is still standing and, only slightly changed, is now used
for a Turkish mosque.12
In the twelfth century there were still deaconesses at Constantinople.
Balsamon, a distinguished professor of Church law, writing at the time,
says that deaconesses were still elected in that city and took charge of
conferences among women members, but in other places the order had
passed completely away.
There was no historian of the diaconate of the early Church. We learn
of it only from isolated and occasional references in works devoted to
other subjects. Yet these references are sufficient to enable us to affirm
that deaconesses were a factor in the life of the Church for from nine to
twelve centuries, or two thirds of the Christian era.
The same influences led to its decay that affected the entire life of the
Church during these centuries. The superior sanctity attached to the
unmarried state, that brought about the celibacy of the priests, gradually
changed the active beneficent existence of the old-time deaconesses into

the cloistral life of nuns. Statutes were passed forbidding her to marry.
Gradually grew up the dangerous superstition of the marriage of the
individual soul with Christ, that made of the nun the Bride of Christ in an
especial sense. It was this false conception that led the vow of the nun to
be regarded as the vow of marriage, and to be guarded from infringement
in the same way as the human marriage tie, and like it to be lasting for life.
The glorious doctrine of justification by faith was replaced by ascetic
mortifications of the flesh based upon the belief in meritorious works. The
cell of the monk and the nun were esteemed more sacred than the family
circle, and in the darkness of mediæval times that settled down upon the
life of the Church we lose sight of the busy, active ministrations of women
deacons, who had once been esteemed so needful to her usefulness.
There are other minor causes that aided in the downfall of the order;
the abuses that arose in some cases; the changes in the ceremony of
baptism by which the aid of women was not so indispensable, and
especially the fact that since the time of Constantine the care of the sick
and poor was placed under the charge of the State.13
These causes combined removed from the life of the Church a
powerful agency for good, and for centuries deprived it of the pre-eminent
gifts of ministration which belong to Christian women.

1 Woman’s Work in the Church, J. M. Ludlow, p. 21.
2 Die Weibliche Diakonie in ihrem ganzen Umfang, Theodor Schäfer, 3 vols.
Stuttgart: D. Gundert, 1887. Vol. i, p. 45.
3 Der Diakonissenberuf nach seiner Vergangenheit und Gegenwart, Emil Wacker.
Gütersloh: E. Bertelman, 1888. p. 33.
4 Neander, Hist. of Chr. Religion and Church, vol. i, p. 188; Schaff, Hist. of Chr.
Church, vol. iii, p. 260; McClintock & Strong’s Encyclopædia, art.
“Deaconesses.”
5 J. M. Ludlow, Woman’s Work in the Church, p. 17.
6 Neander, Hist. of Chr. Rel. and Church, vol. i, p. 188; Schaff, Hist. of Chr.
Church, vol. iii, p. 260.
7 Sancti Johannis Chrysostomi opera om, t. ii, pp. 659, 662. Paris, 1842.
8 Chrys., Op., vol. ii, p. 658.
9 Die Weibliche Diakonie, Theodor Schäfer, vol. i, p. 8.
10 Chrys., Op., vol. ii, p. 600.
11 Schaff’s History of Chr. Church, vol. iii, p. 260.
12 Denkschrift zur Jubelfeier, J. Disselhoff, Kaiserswerth, 1880, p. 5.
13 Herzog’s Protestantische Real Enc., vol. iii, p. 589.

CHAPTER III.

DEACONESSES FROM THE TWELFTH TO
THE NINETEENTH CENTURIES.

During these seven centuries whenever there arose a reviving spirit of
true love to God, whether within the Church of Rome or in any of the
churches formed from reforming elements that separated from it, then we
find traces of the diaconate of woman assuming some form of devotion to
Christ and work for him. One of these movements well worth our study
originated in Belgium while the last of the Greek deaconesses were still
daily walking the arched pathway that led to their church in
Constantinople. Toward the close of the twelfth century great corruption of
morals and open abuses prevailed in society, and also in the Church. One
of those who protested against the evils of the times was the priest
Lambert le Bègue, as he was called, meaning the stutterer. He lived at
Liège, in Belgium, and just without the city walls owned a large garden.
He determined to make use of this to found a retreat for godly women,
where they could lead in common a life of well-doing. Here he built a
number of little houses, and in the center a church, which was dedicated to
St. Christopher in 1184. Then he presented the whole to some godly
women to be used and owned in common. His earnest words of rebuke
brought persecution upon him from those whose consciences he disturbed,
but he went to Rome and appealed to the pope, who not only protected
him from his assailants, but made him the patriarch of the order he had
founded. Only six months after his return, however, he died, and was
buried before the high altar of the church he had erected in 1187. Whether
he was indeed the founder of the Béguine houses has been called in
question. Be that as it may, fifty years after his death fifteen hundred
Béguines were living around St. Christopher’s Church,1 and Béguine
courts were found throughout Belgium, in the Netherlands, south along the
Rhine, in eastern France, and in Switzerland. The Crusades made many
widows, and both widows and young girls sought shelter in the

community life of the Béguines. As a rule they lived alone, in separate
small houses built closely together and surrounded by a wall. Each house
bore on its door the sign of the cross, and with every Béguine court there
were invariably two large buildings—a church and a hospital; the one for
the worship of the sisters, the other the field of their self-denying
ministrations. At first they were in no wise distinguished in their dress
from other women, but in time they wore a habit which varied in color
with each establishment, but was generally blue, gray, or brown. The veil
was invariably white. The sisters had to earn, or partly earn, their own
livelihood. In the time remaining they rendered essential service in
performing acts of charity. They received orphans to bring up and educate,
taught little children, nursed the sick, performed the last offices for the
dead, and bound themselves by good deeds closely with the lives of the
people. They were in no sense isolated from the world, but lived busy,
useful lives in the midst of the world. They could leave the community at
any time, and after severing their connection with it were free to marry.
They also retained control of their own property.
There were certainly many points of resemblance between these
women who were so active in the sphere of Christian charity in the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries and the deaconesses of Europe to-day. The most
prosperous period for the Béguines was the first half of the thirteenth
century, when they were numbered by thousands.2 Gradually persecution
was directed against them. The nuns looked upon them with disfavor, and
the pope withdrew his protection. In the Netherlands many became
Protestants at the time of the Reformation, but the Béguines of to-day,
changed in many respects from the original type, and now, closely
resembling the other sisterhoods of Catholicism, are frequently to be seen
in the cities of Belgium and north-eastern France.
A new current of spiritual life swept over the church in the fourteenth
century, and again we find women living together in community life, and
devoting themselves to common service in good deeds, and known as the
Sisters of the Common Life. There was also a Brotherhood of the
Common Life, as there were Beghards, communities of Christian men
corresponding to the Béguines. The Brotherhood and the Sisterhood of the
Common Life honored as their founder Gerhard Groot, of Deventer, who
was born in 1340. Of a singularly attractive personality, a creative mind,
and an ardent, enthusiastic nature, he was born to influence and command.

He was already known as a priest of eloquence and wide learning when, in
1374, he met with a deep spiritual change, and from that year dated his
conversion. Henceforth, with every power of a rarely gifted nature, he
sought to lead those who heard him to lives of purity and holiness.
Gradually there grew up about him a circle of like-minded friends,
occupied in writing books to spread his ideas, and aiding him as they
could. His friend Florentius proposed that they live together and form a
community. “A community!” answered Groot. “The begging orders will
never permit that.” But Florentius, the planner and organizer, persisted,
offering his own house as a home, and held to the advantages of his plan
until Groot yielded, and said, “In the name of the Lord begin your work.”
Such was the origin of the Brotherhood of the Common Life, and from
its circle proceeded that immortal book, the Imitation of Christ, by
Thomas à Kempis, keeping alive in the hearts of choice spirits of every
generation the thoughts and sentiments of the men of whom its author was
the interpreter. For a community of women of similar aims and purposes it
needed only that Groot should make a few changes in the house that he
had already set apart from his paternal inheritance as a home for destitute
women, and the first sister house began. Like the Béguines, the Sisters of
the Common Life took no obligations binding them to life-long service,
but they differed from them in living more closely together in one family,
and had a common purse. They wore a gray costume, and also worked for
their own support. The special virtues they inculcated were obedience to
those above them in authority, humility that would not shun the meanest
task, and friendliness to all. Their charitable duties were much the same as
the Béguines; they cared for children, nursed the sick, and often acted as
midwives. In the first half of the sixteenth century there were at least
eighty-seven sister-houses, mostly in the Netherlands.3
It will be noticed that these freer communities of religious women, that
bear so much closer resemblance to the deaconesses of the early Church
than to the sisterhoods of nuns contemporary with them, mostly existed in
the great free cities of Germany and the Netherlands, which were the
cradles of political and religious liberty, the centers of commerce and of
civilization at that time.
Among the Waldenses, the Poor Men of Lyons, who were already
prominent in the last half of the twelfth century, we find there were
deaconesses. We learn of them again, too, among the Bohemian brethren,

the followers of Huss. With deep Christian faith they endeavored to form a
Church after the apostolic model, and in 1457 appointed Church
deaconesses. “They were to form a female council of elder women, who
were to counsel and care for the married women, widows, and young girls,
to make peace between quarrelers, to prevent slandering, and to preserve
purity and good morals,”4 aims which keep close to the apostolic
definition of this office.
Luther, the great master-mind of the Reformation, was too clear-
sighted to fail to appreciate the importance of women for the service of the
Church. Speaking of the quality which is an inherent part of the diaconate
of women, he says: “Women who are truly pious are wont to have especial
grace in comforting others and lessening their sorrows.” In his exposition
of 1 Pet. ii, 5, he uttered truly remarkable words, for the age in which he
lived, concerning women as members of the holy priesthood. He says:
“Now, wilt thou say, Is that true that we are all priests, and should preach?
Where will that lead us? Shall there be no difference in persons? shall
women also be priests? Answer. If thou desirest to behold Christians, so
must thou see no differences, and must not say, That is a man or a woman,
that is a servant or a lord, old or young. They are all one, simply Christian
people. Therefore are they all priests. They may all publish God’s word,
save that women shall not speak in the church, but shall let men preach.
But where there are no men, but women only, as in the nuns’ cloisters,
there might a woman be chosen who should preach to them. This is the
true priesthood, in which are the three elements of spiritual offerings,
prayer, and preaching for the Church. Whoever does this is a priest. You
are all bound to preach the Word, to pray for the Church, and to offer
yourself to God.”5
There is no mention in Luther’s writings, however, of the diaconate of
women. It would be more natural that he should have tried to adjust the
lives of the monks and nuns as he knew of them to the new relations
arising from the Reformation rather than to bring to life an office of which
he had no personal knowledge. This was what he did when he wrote to the
burghers of Herford in Westphalia. In their new zeal they wanted to drive
the inmates from the religious houses, although the latter had been the
means of teaching them the reformed doctrines. In his letter of January 31,
1532, Luther says: “If the brothers and sisters who are by you truly teach
and hold the true word it is my friendly wish that you will not allow them

to be disturbed or experience bitterness in this matter. Let them retain their
religious dress and their accustomed habits which are not opposed to the
Gospel.”6
Certainly Luther would have seen no harm in allowing deaconesses the
protection of a special garb.
Passing to another great reformer, Calvin, we find not only references
to deaconesses as filling a “most honorable and most holy function in the
Church,” but in the Church ordinances of Geneva, which were drawn up
by him, there is mention of the diaconate as one of the four ordinances
indispensable to the organization of the Church.
In the Netherlands several attempts were made to revive the ancient
office. The General Synod of the Reformed Church at Wesel, in 1568, first
considered the question. A later synod, in 1579, expressly occupied itself
with the work and office of the deaconess, but the measures taken were
not adapted to advance the interests of the cause, and it was formally
abandoned by the Synod of Middleburg in 1581. In the city of Wesel,
however, there continued to be deaconesses attached to the city churches
until 1610. In Amsterdam local churches preserved the office still later
than at Wesel. Already in 1566 we read that in the great reformed Church
not only deacons but deaconesses were elected. The terrible days of the
Spanish fury swept away all Church organization for a time, but when it
was restored in 1578 both classes of Christian officers again resumed their
duties. From 1582 lists of deaconesses were kept, showing at first three;
later, in 1704, twenty-eight, and in 1800 only eight. At the present time
there are women directors of hospitals and orphanages in Amsterdam who
are called by the title of deaconesses. The helpless, sick, and neglected
children are now gathered in institutions instead of being cared for
individually as was formerly the custom, and women having positions of
control in these institutions are designated by the name formerly applied to
those who had the personal care of the same needy classes.
It is interesting to note that there was one association of women in the
century of the Reformation that bears close resemblance to the Béguines
and the Sisters of the Common Life. These were the Damsels of Charity,
established by Prince Henry Robert de la Mark, the sovereign prince of
Sédan in the Netherlands. In 1559 he, together with the great majority of
his subjects, embraced the doctrines of the Reformed Church, and instead
of incorporating former church property with his own possessions, as did

so many princes of the Reformation, he devoted it to founding institutions
of learning and of charity. These latter he put under the care of the
“Damsels of Charity,” an association of women which he had instituted.
The members could live in their own homes or in the establishments, but
in either case they devoted themselves to the protection and succor of the
poor and sick and the aged. While taking no vows, they were chosen from
those not bound by the marriage vow, and were subject only to certain
rules of living. The Damsels of Charity have been held by some to be the
first Protestant association of deaconesses, although not called by the
name.7
There are two evangelical societies, small in numbers, but one at least
powerful in influence, which have retained deaconesses from their origin
to the present time. These are the Mennonites or Anabaptists, and the
Moravians. It was among the Mennonites in Holland that Fliedner saw the
deaconesses, who so interested him in their duties that he obtained the
convictions which in the end led him to devote his life to their restoration
in the economy of the Church. Among the Moravians, deaconesses were
introduced at the instance of Count Zinzendorf in 1745, but only as a
limited form of woman’s service, by no means measuring up to the place
accorded them to day in Germany.
We have now reached the nineteenth century, and from the early
Church to the present time we find successive if sporadic attempts to
incorporate into the Church the active diaconate of women. These
constantly recurring efforts imply a consciousness, deep, if unexpressed,
of the need to utilize better the especial gifts of women in Christian
service. We have reached the moment when this consciousness is to take a
suitable and enduring form; when the Church machinery, long defective in
this particular, is to be re-adjusted and made complete.

1 Die Weibliche Diakonie, vol. i, p. 67.
2 Woman’s Work in the Church, Ludlow, p. 117, note. “Matthew Paris mentions it
as one of the wonders of the age, for the year 1250, that in Germany there rose
up an innumerable multitude of those continent women who wish to be called
Béguines, to that extent that Cologne was inhabited by more than a thousand of
them.”
3 Die Weibliche Diakonie, Schäfer, vol. i, p. 70.
4 Der Diakonissenberuf E. Wacker, p. 82.
5 Denkschrift zur Jubelfeier, J. Disselhoff, p. 5. Gütersloh, 1888.
6 Die Weibliche Diakonie, vol. i, p. 73.

7 Histoire de la principauté de Sédan, Pasteur Pegran, vol. ii, chaps. i, ii.

C H A P T E R I V.

FLIEDNER, THE RESTORER OF THE
OFFICE OF DEACONESS.

The first years of the present century were sad years for Germany.
There was a life-and-death struggle with an all-powerful conqueror to
preserve existence as a nation. The Germans still call this “the war for
freedom.” Immediately thereafter followed a period of religious
awakening, and this proved to be the hour when the diaconate of woman
rose again to life and power. When the fullness of time arrives for a cause
or a movement to take its place among the forces of society, many hearts
become impressed with its importance. So, between the years 1820 and
1835, there were four several attempts to awaken the Christian Church to
an enlightened conscience in this matter, the last of which obtained a wide
and an enduring success. The first was made by Johann Adolph Franz
Klönne, pastor of the church at Bislich, near Wesel. Stirred to admiration
by the activity that the women’s societies had shown in the Napoleonic
wars, he lamented the fact that the associations had dissolved, and
complained that they had not taken a permanent form, in which the
members might have performed the duties for the Church that deaconesses
had done in the early years of Christianity. In 1820 he published a
pamphlet entitled The Revival of the Deaconesses of the Primitive Church
in our Women’s Associations. This he sent to many persons of influence,
trying to win their co-operation for the cause. He received a great many
answers in reply, among them one from the Crown Princess Marianne. But
while in a general way his project met with approval, no one could suggest
a practical method by which his thought could be realized.
A distinguished woman, Amalie Sieveking, attempted the same task of
utilizing the labor of Christian women as deaconesses in the Church. She
belonged to a well-known patrician family in the old free city of Hamburg,
and was well known for her philanthropic views and her generous deeds.
“When I was eighteen years old,” she relates, “I first learned about the

charitable sisterhoods in Catholic lands, and the knowledge seized upon
me with almost irresistible power. Like a lightning’s flash came the
thought, What if you were appointed to found a similar institution for our
Protestant Church?”1 The thought stayed by her, and disposed her to
receive willingly a similar suggestion coming from the great Prussian
minister Von Stein, the Bismarck of Germany during the first quarter of
this century. He had been favorably impressed by what he had seen of the
Sisters of Mercy in the camp and in hospitals. He consulted with one of
his councilors about increasing their number, so that they could be
employed in all the Hospitals, Insane Asylums, and Penitentiaries which
had women inmates. To another minister he complained with warmth that
the Protestant Church had no such sisterhoods by which the beneficent
stream of activities among women could be directed into well-regulated
channels. “The religious life of Protestantism suffers from the want of
them,” he said. These words were repeated to Amalie Sieveking and
stirred her to make the endeavor to fulfill her own long-cherished wishes,
which were those of Stein. Just at this time, in 1831, the cholera broke out
in her native city. She took this as a providential opening, by means of
which deaconesses could begin their work, and went at once to one of the
cholera hospitals, offered her services as a nurse, and at the same time
issued an appeal for sister-women to join her. But no one came. The only
outcome of her effort was a woman’s society which she formed to care for
the sick and the poor of her native city, and to work for this she devoted
the remainder of her life. Stein and Amalie Sieveking had in mind an order
of women closely resembling the Sisters of Charity. That their efforts were
not crowned with success seemed to the evangelical Protestant promoters
of the deaconess cause in later times providential.2
Shortly after, in 1835, Count von der Recke, already well known as the
founder of two charitable institutions, issued the first number of a
magazine called Deaconesses; or, The Life and Labors of Women Workers
of the Church in Instruction, Education, and the Care of the Sick. Only a
single number appeared, but his earnest plea for deaconesses, and the
elaborate plan he devised for an institution and officers, aroused wide
attention, and brought him a letter of warm commendation from the crown
prince, afterward King Frederick William IV. Evidently the idea was
ripening, and a near fruition could be anticipated. But neither to minister
of state, count, nor prince—to no one among the distinguished of the earth

—was the honor given of reviving the female diaconate. It was to a
humble pastor of an obscure village church that this work was committed.
The little village of Eppstein lies in a beautiful country, full of high
mountains and deep-lying valleys, about a dozen miles from Wiesbaden.
At the village parsonage of the little hamlet was born, January 21, 1800, a
son, the fourth of a family that numbered twelve children. The pastor,
whose father before him had filled a like office, was a favorite among his
people for his pleasant speech, sound advice about every-day matters, and
his faithfulness in instructing the children in the Bible and the catechism,
and caring for the sick and the afflicted.
The little boy proved to be a strong, healthy child, and as he grew
older developed a liking for books. His father taught a class composed of
his children and some boys in the neighborhood, and when Theodor
became old enough to join it he soon outstripped the rest, giving his father
no little pride by his fluent rendering of Homer. Theodor Fliedner was not
quite fourteen years old when the sudden death of the father changed the
whole life of the family, and left the mother with eleven children to
maintain and educate. Now began for Fliedner a struggle to complete his
education. The simple, kindly hospitality that had been so generously
exercised in the village parsonage met its reward. Friends came forward to
offer help, and at the beginning of the New Year Fliedner and his brother
went to the gymnasium at Idstein. Here he was obliged to live sparingly,
and earned his bread by teaching, but he was happy and contented, and
found in study his great delight. He was fond of reading books of travel
and the lives of great men, which stirred him to emulation. In 1817 he
went to the University of Giessen. Here he kept aloof from the political
agitations among the students. Neither was he affected by the rationalistic
teachings of the professors. His shy, retired nature aided him in this
course, and his leisure hours were passed in reading the writings of the
Reformers. The jubilee festival of the Reformation occurred in 1817, and
the lives of the heroes of the faith were brought freshly home to him. Their
strength of faith shamed him, but he had not yet learned the secret of their
power. He was yet without a deep, spiritual life. From Giessen he went to
Göttingen, where he devoted himself to a year’s study of history,
philosophy, and theology. During the holidays, as is the custom with
German students, he made repeated pedestrian tours. In this way he visited
the great free cities of the north, Bremen, Hamburg, and Lubeck. From

Göttingen he and his brother went to the theological seminary at Herborn,
where the following summer he passed with credit his theological
examination. He was now ready to enter God’s great school of practical
life to be further fitted for the mission he was to accomplish. In September
he went to Cologne and was employed in the house of a wealthy merchant
as a private tutor. This was a great change for the quiet youth of country
habits. He took great pains to accommodate himself to his surroundings,
and to acquire the truly Christian art of becoming all things to all men. In
after life, when speaking of this period and its usefulness to him, he wrote:
“It is a great hinderance to a man, even to his progress in the kingdom of
God, not to have been brought up in gentle and refined manners from his
childhood.” Although a faithful and devoted teacher his life-work was not
forgotten. He constantly sought to widen his knowledge and experience,
was made assistant secretary of the local Bible society, and formed
friendships which led to his appointment to the pastorate at Kaiserswerth.
This was a Catholic town formerly of some importance. The ruins of an
imperial palatinate are still to be seen there, but in Fliedner’s time it had
become a little village of workmen dependent on a few manufacturers. On
January 18, 1822, alone, and on foot, to save his poor society the expense
of his journey, Fliedner entered the town where his life was henceforth to
be centered. He was to share the parsonage with the widow of a previous
pastor, and his sister was to be his housekeeper. His income was one
hundred and thirty-five dollars a year. Only a month after his arrival the
great firm of velvet manufacturers who provided the work-people with
employment failed, and the little church community seemed about to be
dispersed. The government offered him another and better appointment,
but he felt that he must be a true shepherd, and not a hireling, and would
not leave his people. He decided to make a journey to collect money to
form a permanent endowment for his church. A journey over sixty years
ago, to a young German of quiet habits, was a very different matter from a
similar trip taken in this day of railroads and steamboats. To Fliedner it
seemed a very important matter; and so it was in its results, which reached
far beyond the little congregation he served. With great hesitation he
began at Elberfeld, a town near at hand. A pastor of the city, to encourage
him, accompanied him to friends, and on parting gave him a friendly
suggestion that, in addition to trust in God, such work required “patience,
impudence, and a ready tongue.” Before starting on the longer journey to

Holland and England he returned to his congregation and encouraged them
by the sum of nine hundred dollars that he had so far secured. He was now
absent for nine months, and during that time obtained an amount sufficient
to put the little church in a position where a certain, if modest, annual
allowance was assured. The pastor had also, in serving others, greatly
strengthened and broadened his own faith. As he says, “In both these
Protestant countries I became acquainted with a multitude of charitable
institutions for the benefit both of body and soul. I saw schools and other
educational organizations, alms-houses, orphanages, hospitals, prisons,
and societies for the reformation of prisoners, Bible and missionary
societies, etc., and at the same time I observed that it was a living faith in
Christ which had called almost every one of these institutions and
societies into life, and still preserved them in activity. This evidence of the
practical power, and fertility of such a principle had a most powerful
influence in strengthening my own faith, as yet weak.” It was while in
Holland that he wrote to Klönne concerning the deaconesses, whose duties
he had observed among the Mennonites. After his return he applied
himself with zeal and success to his pastoral duties. Work was a delight to
him, and his energy and force of character were constantly seeking new
ways by which to make his church services more attractive, and to
increase his influence over each member of his congregation. “He never
asked himself what he must do, but always what he might do.”3 But, work
as industriously as he would, his small society left him time for other
activities. While in London he had been profoundly impressed by the
noble labors of Elizabeth Fry in the prisons of England. It was this
woman’s hand that pointed out the way for Fliedner in Germany. The
prisons in his own land had remained untouched by any spirit of reform.
The convicts were crowded together in small, filthy cells, and often in
damp cellars without light or air; boys, who had thoughtlessly committed
some trifling misdemeanor, with gray-headed, corrupt sinners; young girls
with the most vicious old women. There was no attempt at classification
of prisoners. Some of them might be innocent people waiting for trial.
Neither was there oversight, save to keep the prisoners from escaping. No
work was provided, and as for schools, where the larger number of
convicts could neither read nor write, no one thought of such a thing.4
That such idleness, the beginning of all vice, was here especially

pernicious and corrupting can be readily seen. But few knew of this state
of things, and those few left it for the government to provide a remedy.
Fliedner, however, could not rest in this indifference. He says: “The
smallness of my charge left me more leisure than most of my clerical
brethren, and the opportunities I had enjoyed on my travels of at once
collecting information and strengthening my faith imposed a more urgent
obligation on me to try to make up by the help of our God for our long
neglect.” He tried to obtain permission to be imprisoned a few weeks in
the prison at Düsseldorf, that he might view prison life from within the
walls, but his request was refused. He then obtained leave to hold services
every other Sunday afternoon in the prison at Düsseldorf. The efforts that
he put forth succeeded in waking the interest of a great many persons, and
at last there was formed by his efforts the first society in behalf of
prisoners in Germany.
It was while engaged in this work that he met his wife, Frederika
Münster, who was occupied in bettering the condition of the prisoners in
the penitentiary at Düsselthal. He married her in 1828, and she became a
helpful, inspiring co-worker with him in all his undertakings.
In 1832 he was commissioned by the government to revisit England, to
furnish a report on the various charitable organizations, especially those
connected with prisons and alms-houses. This brought him into closer
relations with Elizabeth Fry, as well as with many other noble men and
women of all ranks who were caring for the poor and neglected of
England. He extended his journey to Scotland, met Dr. Chalmers, and
found his heart strangely touched by what he saw. His spiritual experience
had deepened with the years, and while here he wrote to some friends,
“The Lord greatly quickens me.”
His heart became still more open to works of mercy and love, and he
gathered rich experiences which were afterward utilized in his work.
Fliedner had now attained a certain reputation of his own as a friend to
prisoners and outcasts. It was not surprising, therefore, that a poor female
convict, discharged from the prison at Werden, should have taken the
weary six miles’ walk to Kaiserswerth September 17, 1833, to ask the
good pastor for help. There stood in the parsonage garden a little summer-
house twelve feet square, with an attic. This was offered to the convict
Minna as a temporary refuge, and she became the first inmate of the
Kaiserswerth institutions. She had arrived at an opportune moment. In the

previous spring Count Spee, the President of the Prison Society, had urged
the founding of two institutions, one Lutheran and one Catholic, to receive
discharged female convicts. Fliedner, who had seen such refuges in
England, declared himself ready for the plan, and tried to induce the
pastors of the larger and wealthier communities in the neighborhood to
locate the Protestant asylum in some one of these cities. No one responded
to his appeal. His wife, whose courage was often greater than his own,
urged him to make a beginning in the little village where he lived,
unpromising as the conditions seemed, and after a little hesitation, seeing
no one was ready to assume any responsibility in a matter that he took so
deeply to heart, the good pastor decided to follow her advice. The old
parsonage was for rent, and he secured it on low terms.
Frau Fliedner had a friend of her school-days and early youth, now a
woman of experience and ability. She sent for her to come and visit them
to see if she would become the superintendent of the refuge, but shortly
after her arrival she was taken sick, and her friends sent letters of
expostulation urging her to return. Just now, when affairs were in rather an
untoward state, appeared the first inmate. Let Fliedner tell the story:
“We at first gave her lodging in my summer-house, and the necessity
of attending to her did more good to the poor, distressed superintendent
than all her quinine and mixtures. Countess Spee, the wife of our
president, had prophesied that our inmates would never remain with us a
month, they would certainly run away. So when the first month was over I
marched over to Heltorf and triumphantly announced, ‘Minna is yet there.’
Minna was followed by another, and the garden-house became too small.”
Finally Fliedner obtained possession of the house he had hired, after
some delay on the part of the former tenants, and the asylum was opened.
The number of inmates increased, and Fräulein Göbel soon had more than
she could manage. She must have an assistant. The need of trained
Christian workers, who could care for these poor women, grew daily more
apparent.
Fliedner’s thoughts constantly dwelt on the subject; they gave him no
rest. He had discovered with joyful surprise in 1827 the traces of the
apostolic deaconesses among the Mennonites, and two years later he
wrote:
“Does not the experience of this our sister Church, do not the women
societies in our last war, does not the holy activity of an Elizabeth Fry and

her helpers in England, and the women’s associations of Russia and
Prussia formed after their model to care for the bodies and souls of women
prisoners—do all these not show what great power God-fearing, pious
women possess for the up-building of Christ’s kingdom as soon as they
have opportunity to develop it?”5
His practical experience with the work he had in hand brought him to
the same conclusion; namely, that there must be training-schools where
Christian women, especially set apart for such service, could have
instruction and practice in the duties they had undertaken. As a
consequence there were drawn up in May, 1836, and signed by Fliedner
and a few friends, the statutes of the Rhenish-Westphalian Deaconess
Society.
Fliedner had now reached the work that was henceforth to be his life
mission; that is, the restoration of deaconesses to the Christian Church of
the nineteenth century.

1 Denkschrift zur Jubelfeier, J. Disselhoff, Kaiserswerth, 1886, p. 8.
2 Schäfer, Die Weibliche Diakonie, vol. ii, p. 86; Denkschrift zur Jubelfeier, p. 9.
3 T. Fliedner, Kurzer Abriss seines Lebens, p. 43.
4 T. Fliedner, Kurzer Abriss seines Lebens, p. 48.
5 Kurzer Abriss seines Lebens, p. 60.

C H A P T E R V.

THE I N S T I T U T I O N S AT K A I S E R S W E RT H .

Fliedner saw clearly that if the office of deaconess were to be planted
in the Church there must be soil suitable to nourish it: in other words,
there must be an institution founded which could furnish not only
instruction, but practice in their duties, and a home for those who should
offer their services for this office. “But,” he says, “could our little
Kaiserswerth be the right place for a Protestant deaconess house for the
training of Protestant deaconesses—a village of scarcely eighteen hundred
people where the large majority of the population were Roman Catholics,
where sick people could not be expected in sufficient numbers for training
purposes, and so poor that it could not help defray even the yearly
expenses of such an institution? And were not older, more experienced
pastors than I better adapted for this difficult undertaking? I went to my
clerical brethren in Düsseldorf, Dinsberg, Mettmann, Elberfeld, and
Barmen, and entreated them to start such an institution in their large
societies, of which, indeed, there was pressing need. But all refused, and
urged me to put my hand to the work. I had time, with my small
congregation, and the quietness of retired Kaiserswerth was favorable to
such a school. The useful experiences I had gained on my journeys had not
been given me for naught, and God could send money, sick people, and
nurses. So we discerned that it was his will that we should take the burden
on our own shoulders, and we willingly stretched them forth to receive it.
Quietly we looked around for a house for the hospital. Suddenly, the
largest and finest house in Kaiserswerth was offered for sale. My wife
begged me to buy it without delay. It is true it would cost twenty-three
hundred thalers, and we had no money. Yet I bought it with good courage,
April 20, 1836. At Martinmas the money must be paid.”
It is not possible to give here in detail the occurrences by which loans
were made, and the money that was needed obtained at the required time.
God gave friends for the cause, and through them provided the means. The

house was furnished with a little second-hand furniture which had been
given him, and October, 1836, was opened as a hospital and training
school for Christian women. Services of praise and thanksgiving
consecrated this deaconess home yet without deaconesses, this hospital
without patients. Both, however, soon became inmates of the building. The
first deaconess was Gertrude Reichardt, the daughter of a physician. She
had assisted her father in the care of the sick, and had become experienced
in looking after the welfare of the poor and the destitute. She was an
invaluable helper in the new enterprise, and shared with the doctor the
duty of giving instruction in nursing and hospital duties. Fliedner’s wife
was the superintendent. She had the oversight of the house, gave the
deaconesses practical direction in housekeeping, and in their early visits to
the sick and poor accompanied them from house to house. Fliedner was
the director, and took upon himself the religious instruction of the sisters.
Every effort was taken to make the house a home in which a cheerful,
loving spirit should prevail. Nearly every evening Fliedner or his wife
would go over to the home, and read to the sisters, or tell them interesting
facts outside their lives. When he went away on his journeys he would
write in full every thing pertaining to the interests of the common cause,
and the letters would be read aloud. This was to be a home in every sense
of the word, in which the members were to feel themselves belonging to
one great family, bound together by the common tie of unselfish devotion
to others “for Christ’s sake.” The spirit of the founder has permeated the
institution even to the present time. Those who know any thing of
Kaiserswerth testify to the strong affection for the common home, the
“mother-house,” as they beautifully term it, felt by all its children. Every
pains is taken to preserve it. There is correspondence, frequent and regular,
from here to every sister. No matter in what distant land she may be, her
birthday is remembered, and she is taught to look to this as a waiting
refuge for the days of trouble, sickness, and old age.
There was soon arranged a series of house regulations and instructions
for work which became the basis for after regulations in nearly all existing
institutions.
Almost contemporary with the mother-house arose the normal school
for infant-school teachers. It had first started as a child’s school, and
afterward young women who had taste for the care of children were
received to be taught their duties. Fliedner took great interest in the

instruction of children. He devised little games for them, and arranged
stories to be told. His simplicity and his child-like nature led him to
disregard formalities, and to think solely of the end he had in view. On one
occasion, when picturing the combat of David and Goliath, reaching that
point in the narrative when the young shepherd lad slings the stone that
brings the giant to the ground, he cast himself headlong, to the great
delight and amazement of his little audience, who enjoyed to the full this
object-lesson that made the story so vivid to them.
Then he took special pains that his teachers should learn to tell the
stories of the Bible so as to make them clear and interesting to the
youngest child. Every day a story was told in school, and each evening the
teacher whose turn it was to relate the story the following day came to
Fliedner and rehearsed it to him as though he were a child, afterward
receiving his suggestions as to how the narrative could be improved. The
work went along quietly, ever growing, ever advancing. “Among all
others, and more than all others, was Fliedner’s wife his best help. Her
keen glance, made pure and holy by her Christian faith, preserved him
from mistakes. With the household virtues of cleanliness, order, simplicity,
and economy she united large-hearted compassion toward those needing
help of any kind, yet knowing withal how, with virile sense and energy, to
prevent the misuse of ministering love. She became a model for the
deaconesses, as well as a mother to them, and her name deserves to be
mentioned with honor, as one who had an important part in the Protestant
renewal of the diaconate of women.”1
In 1842 a new building was erected for the normal school for infant-
school teachers. The publishing house of the institution was also started,
which issues religious books and tracts. The first work sent forth was a
volume of sermons, presented to the new enterprise by the late Professor
Lange, which went through several editions.
The same year the Kaiserswerth Almanac appeared and a large picture
Bible for schools was published. In 1848 the magazine Der Armen und
Kranken Freund was sent forth as an organ for the deaconess cause, not
only for Kaiserswerth, but for all the institutions that are represented at the
triennial Conferences. The publishing house is an important source of
income, as the institution has little in the way of endowment beside the
produce of the garden land attached to it. At present about three fourths of

the expense are met by the sale of publications and the fees of patients; the
remaining sum is given by friends.
The financial story of Fliedner’s life could form a tale of thrilling
interest, if it were separated from other facts and told by itself. He
constantly went forward, purchased houses, added lands, and erected new
homes when he had no money in reserve, but unfailingly when the time
came for payments to be made the sum was obtained in some way or other
to meet them. “We have no endowment,” he once said, “but the Lord is
our endowment.”
The same year, 1842, the orphan asylum was opened. For a very
moderate sum this receives children who are both fatherless and
motherless, and who belong to the educated middle class, having fathers
who were pastors or professors, or the like. Fliedner hoped not only to
provide a home for these girls befitting their station in life, but to develop
among them those who should make a vocation of the care of children and
the sick, and in this hope he was not disappointed.
In the midst of these successes the hand of God often lay heavily on
Fliedner’s family. Brethren and children passed away, and, sorest affliction
of all to him, his wife, who had so closely and sympathetically shared all
his labors, died April 22, 1842. “She was the first of the deaconesses to
die,” writes Fliedner. “As she, their mother, had always led the way for her
spiritual daughters in life, so she was their leader into the valley of the
shadow of death.”2 Not long after this a normal school for female teachers
in the public schools was started, for this practical believer in woman’s
work was one of the first to advocate the introduction of women teachers
in the public schools of Germany, against which there then existed a
strong prejudice. The Board of Education looked favorably on his project,
and afterward sent a government commissioner to attend the examinations
and award the certificates at Kaiserswerth. At a later period provision was
made for teachers of girls’ high schools, as also for those who desired to
become teachers but were too young to enter the normal school. Over two
thousand teachers have gone forth from these schools, carrying with them
a love for the institution which has brought back to it many returns in
money and service. Fliedner well called them his “light skirmishing
troops.”
In 1849 he resigned his pastorate, and henceforth, with singleness of
purpose, devoted himself to his one calling. From time to time new

buildings were added to meet new needs. In 1852 an insane asylum for
Protestant women was founded, as sisters were often called upon to nurse
patients of this class. The building set apart for the purpose was formerly
used as military barracks and was given to Fliedner by King Frederick
William IV. In 1881 this, as with so many others of the original buildings
at Kaiserswerth, became too small for the increase in numbers, and a new
building took its place. It stands on an eminence just outside of the village,
and is provided with every modern appliance. Fliedner’s practical good
sense and administrative ability led him to care for all the minor details
that were needed for the success of so great an undertaking. He added a
dispensary to the hospital, where a sister who had passed a regular
examination before the government medical board made up the medicines
required for the hospital. Many deaconesses have been trained to the same
knowledge, which has been an especially valuable acquisition in the
hospitals situated in Eastern countries. Little by little he secured land for
farming operations, until there were one hundred and eighty acres in
garden and meadow land, generally lying close about the various
buildings, and affording means of recreation as well to the inmates. Nearly
all of the vegetable and dairy products that are needed are so provided. A
bakery, bath-houses, homes for laborers and officials, were added, and
bakers, shoemakers, carpenters, and blacksmiths formed part of the staff of
the great establishment.
Gradually every variety of institution that could furnish active practice
to the deaconesses took its place here, and the whole might be
denominated a great normal training-school for Christian women. The
refuge for discharged female convicts, which was the starting-point of the
movement, still continued its good work during all these years. The last
report3 states that nine hundred and nineteen women of different ages and
different degrees of wrong-doing have been its inmates. Parents send
insubordinate girls; societies forward those who profess penitence;
magistrates sentence degraded creatures often too late for any reasonable
hope to reform them. The old experience of the refuge is repeated in this
last report: one third are saved, one third are irredeemable, and the
judgment as to the remaining third, doubtful. There were two buildings
erected during the later years of Fliedner’s life in which he took great
interest. One of these was a cottage among the neighboring hills, where
deaconesses who had become exhausted by long days in the sick-room, or

whose health was suffering from over-toil, could retire for a few weeks of
mountain air and quiet rest during the summer months. This pleasant
retreat was well named Salem. Soon afterward was laid the corner-stone of
the second building, regarded with peculiar favor not only by the good
pastor, but by all friends of the institution. This was the “Feierabend
Haus,” the House of Evening Rest, where, somewhat apart from the busy
activity of the great household, those deaconesses whose best strength had
been given to faithful labor in the service could pass the evening hours of
life in quiet waiting for the last great change, while using the experience
they had gathered and the strength still remaining in behalf of the cause
they had faithfully served.
Such are the main features of the great establishment that year by year
grew up in this village on the Rhine. But from this as a center had
gradually branched off manifold lines of service, and many daughter-
houses both in Germany and foreign lands. It was only a year and a half
after the home was opened that the first appointment of deaconesses to
work outside of Kaiserswerth was made.
This was an important victory for the new institution. It took place
January 21, 1838, on Fliedner’s birthday, when he and his wife escorted
two of the sisters to Elberfeld, where they were to act as trained nurses in
the city hospital. From that time to the present the hospital has continued
under the management of the Kaiserswerth deaconesses.
Soon afterward sisters were sent out to nurse in private families, and in
1839 two more were sent to superintend the workhouse in Frankfort. As
the institution became known there was a constant demand for
superintendents, and matrons for public reformatories, prisons, and
charitable establishments. Between 1846 and 1850 more than sixty
deaconesses were at work at twenty-five different stations outside of the
mother-house. About the same time deaconesses began to work in
connection with special churches which called for their services, having
the duties which in England are assigned to those called “parish
deaconesses.”
King Frederick William IV., from the beginning Fliedner’s faithful
friend and supporter, had long desired a deaconess home in Berlin. This
was finally obtained, and set apart under the name “Bethanien Haus,” or
Bethany House, October 10, 1847, at a special dedicatory service, at
which the king, with his court, was present. It was while seeking a

superintendent for this home in Berlin that Fliedner learned to know
Caroline Bertheau, of Hamburg, a descendant of an old Huguenot family
that was driven from France by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. He
led her home as his wife in May, 1843, and she became to him a true
helpmeet for his children, his home, and his institution. She is still living,
having survived her husband over twenty-five years, and in an advanced
age still retains a place on the Board of Direction at Kaiserswerth.
In one place after another deaconess homes arose, sometimes simply
through Fliedner’s advice, more often by his direct co-operation. From
1849 to 1851 he was chiefly engaged in traveling from one land to
another, occupied in kindling the zeal of Christian women to devotion to
the sick and sorrowing, and finding fields of service for their priceless
ministrations. He visited the United States, England, France, and
Switzerland, as well as various cities of the East, including Jerusalem and
Constantinople.
The work in our own land was begun at Pittsburg, where Fliedner
came with four sisters in the summer of 1849, at the invitation of Pastor
Passavant, of the German Lutheran Church.
The deaconesses at once entered upon hospital work, and their care of
the sick met with warm appreciation, but their numbers did not increase.
An orphanage was afterward started at Rochester, and hospitals under the
same auspices exist at Milwaukee, Jacksonville, Ill., and Chicago. Still the
work has not grown, and it has proved the least successful of any initiated
by Fliedner. Upon his return he aided in opening mother-houses in
Breslau, Königsberg, Dantzic, Stettin, and Carlsruhe.
We have now come to the period when Kaiserswerth institutions met
with a notable extension. Fliedner had long been looking toward
Jerusalem, hoping to found a deaconess home there. “Who would not
gladly render service on the spot where the feet of the Saviour once
brought help and healing to the sick?” he had said.
Now, through Dr. Gobat, the Bishop of Jerusalem, the opportunity was
given. The king offered two small houses in Jerusalem that were his
private property, and volunteered to pay the expenses of the journey.
Associations were formed in all parts of Germany to provide an outfit for
the mission. Gifts flowed in rapidly, and March 17, 1851, Fliedner,
accompanied by four deaconesses, two of them being teachers, set out on

this new and peaceful crusade to the holy city. From that beginning has
resulted a net-work of stations throughout the East.
There is at Jerusalem a hospital4 where, during 1887, four hundred and
ninety-three patients were given medical aid and nursing, and seven
thousand seven hundred and two patients were treated in the dispensary.
No woman in the city is better known or more justly honored than Sister
Charlotte, the head-deaconess.
The Mohammedans at first regarded the work of the sisters with
fanatical distrust, but a glance at the statistics of the last report will show
how completely they have cast aside their prejudices.
Of the 493 patients in 1887, there were 404 Arabians, 43 Armenians,
30 Germans, 5 Abyssinians, 4 Greeks, 3 Roumanians, 2 Russians, 1
Italian, and 1 Hollander. As to religion, there were 235 Mohammedans, 97
Protestants, 78 Greeks, 23 Roman Catholics, 45 Armenians, 6 Copts, 3
Syrian Christians, 4 Proselytes, 1 Jew, and 1 Maronite; so that in all nine
nations and nine religious faiths were represented in the hospital.
There is also a girls’ orphanage, called “Talitha Cumi,” just outside the
city walls at Jerusalem, where one hundred and fourteen native girls were
last year taught by the Kaiserswerth deaconesses. Over a hundred more
made application to enter, but there was no room to receive them. In
Constantinople, Alexandria, Cairo, Beirut, and Pesth there are also well-
appointed hospitals, some of them of spacious dimensions, and all having
excellent medical service and nursing that cannot be surpassed.
The orphanage and school at Beirut had a sad foundation. In 1860
came the terrible news of the massacre of the Maronite Christians by the
Druses in the Lebanon mountains.
Kaiserswerth deaconesses were immediately sent out, and were among
the first to arrive to join the resident Europeans and Americans in caring
for the sufferers. Numbers of children were left fatherless and motherless,
and the sisters started the orphanage at Beirut to shelter them. When its
twenty-fifth anniversary was celebrated in 1885 over eight hundred girls
had received a home and education here, and had gone forth to eastern
homes, carrying with them the light and knowledge of Christian faith into
the dark, degraded social life of the Orient.5
From the two orphanages at Beirut and Jerusalem over forty have gone
out as teachers in girls’ schools in Palestine and Syria. Twelve others have

become deaconesses, and are ministering in this capacity to their own
countrymen and to foreigners in eastern hospitals.6
In Smyrna there is also a girls’ school, that was opened at the request
of some wealthy Protestants residing there. The school is not so needed as
formerly, since the government has started girls’ high schools, but it is still
maintained, and aids in bringing new life into the hopeless society of the
East. There is also an orphanage at Smyrna, where some girls of the poorer
classes were gathered after the ravages of the cholera had left them
without parents or homes.
The eastern deaconesses have also their Salem. Just above the little
village of Areya, in the Lebanon, on the summit of a hill overlooking the
Mediterranean, stands the house of retreat, where, during the summer
months, the more than forty sisters stationed in Beirut, Alexandria, Cairo,
and Jerusalem can take refuge in seasons of overpowering heat.
The deaconess who superintends the house has a school for the native
children of the village, which is taught by one of the girls educated at the
Beirut orphanage.
Prosperous girls’ schools are also in existence at Bucharest, and at
Florence, Italy. The Italian school was started in 1860 with four girls in the
upper floor of a rented house. It now possesses a beautiful house and
grounds of its own, and had one hundred and forty-five girls under its
charge the past year. Most of these were Italians, but different foreign
residents also availed themselves of the opportunity to send their children
to an excellent Protestant school. There is also a mission at Rome
maintained by deaconesses during the winter months.
The large majority of the undertakings outside of Kaiserswerth were
initiated personally by Fliedner. When we recall the complex demands of
the home field in Germany we marvel at the versatile executive ability of
this man, who started life as the humble pastor of an obscure village
church. But he loved work. He possessed “iron industry.” He was ever
hopeful, courageous, and indefatigable. Above all, he trusted completely
in the leadings of Divine Providence, and constantly went forward with
sure confidence. Then he was a true leader. He knew men. He put the right
person in the right place, gave him full liberty of action, and held him to a
strict responsibility for results. So, while Fliedner remained the soul of the

great institution, he knew how to make himself spared, which was not the
least of his qualifications for his calling.

1 Der Diakonissenberuf, Emil Wacker, Gütersloh, 1888, p. 116.
2 Life of Pastor Fliedner, translated by C. Winckworth, London, 1867.
3 Ein und fünfzigster Jahres-Bericht, p. 30.
4 Achtzehnter Bericht über die Diakonissen Stationen im Morgenlande, 1888.
5 Vierzehnten Bericht über die Diakonissen Stationen am Libanon.
6 Der Rheinisch Westfälische Diakonissen Verein, p. 64, J. Disselhoff.

CHAPTER VI.

T H E R E G U L AT I O N S AT K A I S E R S W E RT H ,
AND THE DUTIES AND SERVICES OF
THE DEACONESSES.

The regulations in daily use at Kaiserswerth are based on those that
Fliedner drew up in the early days of the institution. They have been
adopted with few alterations by the larger number of deaconess
institutions that have since arisen, so that to understand the spirit and
usages prevailing in them it is well to give these rules some study. They
are contained in a book numbering one hundred and seven pages,1 treating
with great minuteness every question that affects the daily lives of the
deaconesses. The qualities that the office demands are first dwelt upon as
they are described in Acts vi, 3, and 1 Tim. iii, 8, 9. The sisters are
reminded that their life is one of service; that they serve the Lord Jesus;
that they serve the poor and the sick and helpless “for Jesus’ sake;” and
that they are servants one of another.
Special stress is given to the importance of cultivating unity, love, and
forbearance in the relations of daily life, and the deaconesses are enjoined
“to protect and further the honor of other sisters,” “to form one family
living unitedly as sisters, through the tie of a heartfelt love for the one
great object that brings them to this place.”
There are two classes of deaconesses formally recognized, nurses and
teachers; although there is another, deaconess whose work is year by year
becoming more important, and that is the deaconess who is attached to a
church in the capacity of a home missionary. She is designated by the term
“commune-deaconess,” or, as the English translate it, “parish-deaconess.”
Those who desire to become nurse-deaconesses must have the
elements of a common school education, must be in good health, and, as a
general rule, be over eighteen and not over forty years of age. Most
important of all is it that she possess personal knowledge of the salvation
of Christ, and a living experience of the grace of God. Those who desire to

become teacher-deaconesses must, in addition, present certain educational
certificates, and be able to sing. All must pass some months at the mother-
house, taking care of children and assisting in housework, so that their
fitness for the office can be proven. A great deal of care is taken to test the
efficiency of the candidates, and only about one half the probationers
finally become deaconesses in full connection. The teachers have, further,
a seminary course of one year for those who are to teach in infant schools,
of two years to prepare for the elementary schools, and of three years for
the girls’ high schools.
While probationers, they receive, free of charge, board and instruction,
and the caps, collars, and aprons that are their distinctive badges. Their
remaining expenses they provide for themselves. Those who have
completed the full term of probation, and have proved their fitness for the
office, must pledge themselves to a service of at least five years. At the
end of the time they may renew the engagement or not, as they wish.
Should a deaconess be needed at home by aged parents, or should she
desire to marry, she is free to leave her duties, but is expected to give three
months’ notice of her intention to do so.
The deaconess performs her duties gratuitously. This is a main feature
of the system. She is not even free to accept personal presents, for envy,
jealousy, and unworthy motives might then creep into the system. She is
truly “the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.” All of her wants are supplied,
and her future needs anticipated, so that, literally “taking no thought for
the morrow,” she can give herself with single-hearted devotion to the work
in hand. The deaconess at Kaiserswerth receives from the institution her
modest wardrobe, consisting of a Sunday suit, a working-dress of dark
blue, blue apron, white caps and collars. A deaconess attired in her garb,
with the placid, contented countenance that seems distinctively to belong
to her, is a pleasant, wholesome sight that is constantly to be seen on the
streets of German cities. Her deaconess attire is not only a protection,
assuring her chivalrous treatment from all classes of men, but it is a
convenient identification that insures her certain privileges on the State
railroads and steamboats, for the German government recognizes the
sisters as benefactors of society, and treats them accordingly. For her
personal expenses the Kaiserswerth deaconess in Germany receives yearly
twenty-two dollars and fifty cents; sometimes when in foreign lands she is
paid a slightly larger sum. When she becomes unfitted for service by

reason of sickness or old age, and has no means of her own, the Board of
Direction provides for her maintenance.
The rules for probationers are full of practical suggestions touching the
details of daily life. There is not space to transcribe them here, but those
who have charge of training schools will find them valuable reading.
Every kind of house and hospital service is clearly defined. The
deaconesses are instructed what duties are theirs in hospitals for women
and in hospitals for men. In the latter the sister undertakes only such
nursing as is suited to her sex, and for that reason she has a male assistant.
She must follow strictly the doctor’s orders in all matters pertaining to
diet, medicine, and ventilation, and must inform him daily of the patient’s
state. She also assists the clergyman, if desired, in ministering to spiritual
needs. But she must not obtrude her religion, when it is distasteful to her
patients; rather manifest it in her deeds and manner of life.
Every portion of the day has definite duties assigned to it. On reading
them over you say, Can much be accomplished when the hours are
subdivided into so many portions, and given over to so many objects? But
the unvarying testimony is that no nurses accomplish more than the
German deaconesses. No matter how busy they may be, the effort is made
for each to have a quiet half hour for meditation and private devotion.
Every afternoon the chapel is opened for this purpose, and all the sisters
who can be spared meet here. A hymn is sung, and afterward each spends
the time as she will in meditation, reading the Bible or silent prayer, the
quietness and stillness being unbroken by words. The “Stille halbe
Stunde,” as it is called, is greatly prized by the sisters, and is observed by
them in all their institutions, and in all lands. There are Bible-classes and
prayer-meetings for the deaconesses during the week, and the first Sunday
of every month there is a special service of prayer and thanksgiving for all
sisters, all the affiliated houses, and similar homes wherever they exist.
Fliedner prepared a book of daily Bible readings for the use of the sisters,
and a hymn-book, used in all the Kaiserswerth institutions at home and
abroad. “We have no vows,” he said, “and I will have no vows, but a bond
of union we must have, and the best bond is the word of God, and our
second bond is singing.”2 The sisters of each house meet together to give
their votes for the admission of new deaconesses and the election of the
superintendents. Each deaconess is expected to obey those who are placed
over her, and to accept the kind of work assigned her, except in the case of

contagious diseases, when her permission is asked. What a tribute it is to
these women that such a refusal has never yet been known! Every effort is
made to harmonize the right of the individual with the needs of the whole
body, a marked characteristic of the Protestant sisters of charity.
When a probationer becomes a deaconess she is consecrated to her
work by a service the main features of which it may be well to indicate.
They are as follows:
Singing. Address commending the deaconesses for acceptance.
Address to the deaconesses, recalling the ever-repeated thought, “You are
servants in a threefold sense: servants of the Lord Jesus; servants of the
needy for Jesus’ sake; servants one of another.” Then, having answered the
question, “Are you determined to fulfill these duties truly in the fear of the
Lord, and according to his holy will?” the candidate kneels and receives
the benediction: “May the Triune God, God the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, bless you; may he give you fidelity unto death, and then the crown
of life.” After this is repeated the prayer of the Apostolical Constitutions,
that beautiful prayer which has been said on similar occasions in many
lands and in many tongues.3 The service ends with the communion.
A similar consecration service is used by nearly all the German
deaconess houses. The features of those that meet together in the triennial
Conferences at Kaiserswerth are strikingly similar; the spirit of the
original founder pervades them all.
The first of the Conferences was held in 1861, just twenty-five years
after the founding of the first deaconess house at Kaiserswerth. It was
celebrated as a Thanksgiving festival for the restoration of the diaconate of
women to the Church. The representatives of twenty-seven distinct
mother-houses met together to exchange their experiences, and to
deliberate on matters touching the further usefulness of the order.
Since then the Conferences have been continued at intervals of three
and four years. The last General Conference assembled at Fliedner’s old
home in September, 1888.
Just before it convened, as is the custom, statistics were obtained from
the different mother-houses represented in the association, and pains were
taken to verify their correctness. The results so obtained are given in the
following table:4
Conferences. Mother-houses. Sisters. Fields of Work.

1861 27 1,197 ?
1864 30 1,592 386
1868 40 2,106 526
1872 48 2,657 648
1875 50 3,239 866
1878 51 3,901 1,093
1881 53 4,748 1,436
1884 54 5,653 1,742
1888 57 7,129 2,263

Five additional houses had made application for entrance at the time
the table was made, and were received at the ensuing Conference, among
which was the Philadelphia mother-house of deaconesses in connection
with the Mary J. Drexel Home.
Over sixty mother-houses now belong to the association, and
notwithstanding the necessary loss of deaconesses from death or removal
from work since the preceding Conference, there are 1,476 more in
number now than then. Surely the deaconess cause is striking deep root in
the religious life of Protestant Europe. During Fliedner’s life-time
occasions arose which called the deaconesses outside their accustomed
fields of work, and proved their value in the exceptional emergencies that
so often arise. Here is an instance that occurred during the early days of
the establishment:5
“An epidemic of nervous fever was raging in two communes of the
circle of Duisburg, Gartrop, and Gahlen. Its first and most virulent
outbreak took place at Gartrop, a small, poor, secluded village of scarcely
one hundred and thirty souls, without a doctor, without an apothecary in
the neighborhood, while the clergyman was upon the point of leaving for
another parish, and his successor had not yet been appointed. Four
deaconesses, including the superior, Pastor Fliedner’s wife, and a maid,
hastened to this scene of wretchedness, and found from twenty to twenty-
five fever patients in the most alarming condition, a mother and four
children in one hovel, four other patients in another, and so on, all lying on
foul straw, or on bed-clothes that had not been washed for weeks, almost
without food, utterly without help. Many had died already; the healthy had
fled; the parish doctor lived four German leagues off, and could not come
every day. The first care of the sisters, who would have found no lodging

but for the then vacancy of the parsonage, was to introduce cleanliness and
ventilation into the narrow cabins of the peasants; they washed and cooked
for the sick, they watched every night by turns at their bed-side, and
tended them with such success that only four died after their arrival, and
the rest were only convalescent after four weeks’ stay. The same epidemic
having broken out in the neighboring commune of Gahlen, in two
families, of whom eight members lay ill at once, a single deaconess was
able, in three weeks, to restore every patient to health, and to prevent the
further spread of the disease. What would not our doctors give for a few
dozen of such hard-working, zealous, intelligent ministers in the field of
sanitary reform?”
The Schleswig-Holstein war of 1864 was the first in which Protestant
deaconesses were active as nurses. Already in the Crimean war the Greek
Sisters of Charity among the Russians, the Sisters of Mercy among the
French, and Florence Nightingale and Miss Stanley among the English,
had wakened the liveliest gratitude on the part of the soldiers, and secured
the respect and approbation of the surgeons.
In the Austrian war of 1866 two hundred and eighty-two deaconesses
were in the hospitals and on the battle-fields, fifty-eight of whom were
from Kaiserswerth. The Franco-Prussian war of 1870 was on a greater
scale, and afforded wider opportunities for the unselfish, priceless labors
of these Christian nurses. Neatly eight hundred deaconesses, sent from
more than thirty mother-houses, cared for the sick and wounded in the
camp hospitals or on the field. The willingness of a number of boards of
administration to release sisters who were in their service, and the
voluntary offers of other women to take their places, enabled Kaiserswerth
to send two hundred and twenty of the number. Their experience in
improvising hospitals, in aiding the surgeon in his amputations, and in
ministering to the wounded and dying, throws a tender glow of
compassionate sympathy over the terrible scenes of war.6
The importance of trained deaconesses in times of war is now well
understood by the military authorities at Berlin. In the winter of 1887,
when war seemed imminent, the directors of the German deaconess
houses were summoned by the government to a conference at the German
capital to take measures for supplying nurses in case war should be
declared.

Deaconesses are now thoroughly incorporated into the religious and
social features of the German national life, as must be admitted by any one
who has weighed the facts that have been given.
The example of Kaiserswerth has been far-reaching; the mission of
Fliedner, that simple-hearted, true-souled, practical, energetic pastor, has
been wonderfully successful.
In this rapid sketch I have said but little of the hinderances he met,
nothing of the ridicule which at first attacked him unsparingly. He paid no
heed to these obstacles, and why should we waste time in detailing them?
Steadfastly and undeviatingly he went forward toward the end he had in
view; that is, to restore in all its aspects the devoted disciplined services of
Christian women to the Church. He passed away from life October 5,
1864, leaving the great establishment that he had watched over in the
charge of his son-in-law, Pastor Disselhoff, and other members of his
family.
The institution has become an imposing mass of building, forming an
almost absurd contrast to the little garden house, the cradle of the whole
establishment, which is still standing in the parsonage garden.
When the fiftieth anniversary of the rise of the deaconess cause was
celebrated in 1886 the Kaiserswerth sisterhood put their mites together and
purchased the little house, to hold it in perpetuity as a monument of God’s
providence.
The symbol of Kaiserswerth is a white dove, carrying an olive branch,
resting against a blue ground. The blue flag floats from the old windmill
tower on the river-bank, attracting the attention of the traveler as he floats
up the Rhine.
Other flags bear messages of conquest, of victory, of battles fought and
won, of storm and stress and endeavor in the conflict of man against his
fellow-man. But only peace and good-will, the victory of goodness and of
love—these alone are the messages that are waved forth to the wind by the
blue flag of Kaiserswerth.

1 Haus Ordnung und Dienst-Anweisung für die Diakonissen und Probeschwestern
des Diakonissen Mutterhauses zu Kaiserswerth.
2 Deaconesses, Rev. J. S. Howson, D.D., p. 81.
3 Refer back to page 23, chapter ii, where it can be found.
4 Der Armen und Kranken Freund, August Heft, 1888.
5 Woman’s Work in the Church, p. 273, J. M. Ludlow. A. Strahan, London, 1866.

6 Denkschrift zur Jubelfeier, p. 215.

CHAPTER VII.

O T H E R E S TA B L I S H M E N T S ON THE
C O N T I N E N T.

In a book of these dimensions no exhaustive historical account can be
given of all the developments of the deaconess movement in the various
countries on the Continent. Only a few of the leading houses can be
spoken of, but through a knowledge of these we can gain an insight into
the life and characteristics of the movement as a whole.
The mother-house at Strasburg is one of the oldest ones, dating from
1842. It owes its origin to the holy enthusiasm and life experiences of
Pastor Härter, who exercised a deep religious influence in the city where
he lived. In 1817, when he was a young man of twenty, the great Strasburg
hospital was re-organized. The six to eight hundred patients were divided
according to their religious faith. To the Catholics were assigned as nurses
Sisters of Charity. For the Protestants there were paid women nurses.
The magistrates appealed to the pastors to find at least two Protestant
women of experience and ability to oversee the nurses, but the most
persistent search in the various churches of Strasburg failed to procure
suitable candidates. Years afterward, when death entered Härter’s family
circle, and his life became clouded and darkened, he was called as a pastor
to the largest church in Strasburg. He entered upon his new pastorate with
a heart heavy and sad, and not until after ten months of struggle, in which
the depths of his soul were stirred, did he come forth strong, confident,
and positive as never before that “Jesus Christ came into the world to save
sinners, of whom I am chief.” Henceforth there was force to his life,
conviction in his words, and never-ceasing energy in good works.
When he heard of Fliedner’s new undertaking below him on the Rhine
he remembered the difficulty in finding Protestant nurses for the hospital,
and declared that Strasburg must have a similar institution. He won the
support of a number of Christian men and women, and the house was
opened in October, 1842. From its beginning many branches of charitable

and religious work were undertaken. Especial attention was at first given
to preparing Christian teachers, and the schools in connection with the
deaconess house were filled with pupils. The success in this particular
aroused apprehension lest the deaconesses should be diverted from their
legitimate duties in caring for outside interests, so for a time the schools
were discontinued. They have been resumed, however, and are to-day
prosperous as of old.1 There are also a hospital, a home for aged women, a
servants’ training-school and a foundling asylum under the charge of the
deaconesses. They are, as a class, of higher social rank than these of
Kaiserswerth, the preponderating number of whom are from the lower
grade of social life. They are also better educated. This is partly a
necessity, from the fact that the city is on the border-land between two
great nations and if the deaconesses are to be effective they must be
familiar with the spoken and written speech of both peoples. Strasburg
continues to be a great and powerful center of deaconess activities, having
a number of branch houses and various fields of work.
The affiliated house at Mülhausen has obtained an especially good
report for its successful use of parish deaconesses. No other house has so
systematized their labors or developed their possibilities as has the
deaconess house at Mülhausen. All the authorities on deaconess work
agree that the office of the parish deaconess is the crown and glory of the
diaconate, and approaches most nearly the type of the deaconesses of the
early Church.
The parish deaconess has occasion to use every gift which she can
possibly acquire in the varied training of the deaconess school. She must
know how to care for the poor, the weak, the sick, and those needing help
for either body or soul, as she finds them in her visits from house to house.
She must be able to pray at the bedside of the rich man, and to serve in the
kitchen of the poor man; to be motherly to children, sympathetic with the
sorrowing, and silent with the complaining. She must be an intelligent
nurse, having some knowledge of medicine, able to faithfully carry out the
instructions of the physician. She must be keen in detecting imposition,
and wise in the administration of charity, knowing that “to deny is often to
help, and to give is often to corrupt.” Truly, there is no gift of Christian
womanhood which has not here its use.
For many reasons Mülhausen was well adapted for a field of labor for
parish deaconesses. It is an old city, dating back to mediæval times, having

a population of about sixty thousand inhabitants, half of whom are
workmen. It has long been known for its noble and successful endeavors
to promote the well-being of the working class. One of the first building
and loan associations was started here to enable the operatives to earn their
homes by gradual payments. Other organizations whose object is the
moral elevation of the employees have united the different social circles
by strong ties of sympathy. It was an easy matter, therefore, to raise a
subscription of two hundred thousand francs to provide a home for the
deaconesses who were invited here from Strasburg in 1861. There are now
fourteen sisters in the deaconess house. Half of the number remain at the
home to nurse the sick, and perform house duties. The remainder are
parish deaconesses, who go forth early in the morning, each to her own
quarter of the city, where she is busy at her labors during the day. In the
evening she returns to the central home. In each of the seven districts into
which the city is divided is located a district house; a pleasant, well-kept
place. This contains a waiting-room for the deaconess and a consultation-
room for the district physician, who comes at stated hours during the
week. The poor who are recommended by the sister he treats gratuitously,
and, so far as the physician directs, she furnishes food gratuitously. She
keeps on hand a good stock of lint, bandages, and instruments. Each house
has a kitchen and cellar. Every morning a woman comes in and prepares a
large kettle of nourishing soup, and at 11 A. M. this is given out to the sick
and poor.
In the store-room are rice, sugar, coffee, meal, and similar articles of
food. From here she sends out at noon such portions as are needed for the
most destitute of the district. In winter she also sells from her stores to the
poor. Then there is a closet amply provided with sewing materials, and
when the deaconess obtains work for seamstresses she furnishes them at a
small price the necessary outfit to begin sewing. At two o’clock the
deaconess ends her duties at the district house, and spends the remainder
of the day in making visits in her quarter. To provide means to support the
constant expenditure, there is in each quarter of the city a committee of
fifteen ladies and three gentlemen, being in all more than one hundred
ladies and twenty gentlemen, who are responsible for the administration of
the charity. Each committee has a yearly collection in its district, and in
this way about forty thousand francs are gathered annually. In each quarter
nine hundred francs (one hundred and eighty dollars) is set apart for the

maintenance of the sister and the rent of the district house. The remaining
sum is expended by the deaconesses in their several districts in caring for
the sick and destitute. Every month each one receives the sum allotted her
from the treasurer, and in return reports her expenditure. The ladies on the
committee often give personal assistance to the deaconess, and sometimes
assume responsibility for individual cases, or for an entire street. The
arrangements are constantly being improved upon as knowledge is gained
by practice. The experience that has been gathered at Mülhausen is very
practical, and therefore very valuable. Similar work could be undertaken
in any of our large American cities, with the anticipation of like beneficent
results. For that reason the above detailed description has been ventured
upon, with the hope that the Old World example will find imitators in the
New.2 Similar institutions, although not so carefully perfected, are found
in Gorlitz and Magdeburg.
In Berlin are a good many deaconess institutions. Among them is the
Marthashof, a training-school for servants, and a home for those out of
employment.
The first impulse to care for the girls who come to large cities to obtain
work, and to provide them a home where they can have respectable
surroundings, came from Pastor Vermeil, the founder of the deaconess
house at Paris. When Fliedner visited the Paris house his heart was
touched by what he saw. He thought of the thousands of girls coming
annually to Berlin from the provinces, and of the exposures and
temptations to which they were subjected. He knew that many of them in
their ignorance and inexperience were ruined body and soul in the
lodging-houses to which they resorted, and drifted away on the streets of
the city, only to find a place eventually in the hopeless wards of the great
hospital, La Charité.
He determined to do what he could to provide a remedy, and, as was
his wont, “without money and without noise” he set to work. In the north
of Berlin, at quite a distance from the railroad stations, he hired a small
house on a street then called “The Lost Way”—a street well named, as it
was unlighted and unpaved, and so poorly kept that when the queen came
to visit the home, shortly after it was opened, her carriage, in spite of the
strong horses, got stuck in the mud.
By the aid of some ladies in the city the home was furnished with
twelve beds; three deaconesses were put in charge, and after perplexing

difficulties the authorization to open a registry for servants was obtained.
The idea at first met with derision. It was said that such an institution was
rightly located on “The Lost Way,” for no one would ever come to it. But
they came. In two years the number of beds increased to twenty, and the
same year Fliedner purchased the entire court in which the house stood,
containing five houses and a fine garden. Queen Elizabeth of Prussia
became the patroness of the institution, and it grew in favor with the
people. A training-school was added in which the girls were taught to
wash, iron, cook, and sew, and also to work in the garden and to care for
cows, the last two branches of domestic service being required of servant-
girls in Germany. Later an infant school was added in which nursery girls
were practiced in taking charge of children, a pleasant, helpful demeanor
being made one of the requisites. Over two hundred children, mostly
coming from the poorest and gloomiest homes, are in daily attendance.
About three hundred and fifty more attend the girls’ school for children of
the working classes. In the home and training-school for servants about
eight hundred girls are received annually, and sixteen thousand have been
sheltered and taught during the years it has been open. They readily secure
situations, over two thousand applications being annually received for the
servants of the Marthashof. They remain in friendly relation to the home,
receive good counsel and advice, and are encouraged to spend their free
Sundays there.
The Marthashof has had a beneficent influence over the moral and
spiritual welfare of servants throughout Germany. In nearly all the cities
similar homes are now established, while in the larger cities Sunday
associations are formed to provide suitable places of meeting for the
entertainment and instruction of those who are free Sunday afternoons and
evenings. So far as I am aware, no similar work has been attempted for
servant-girls in the United States. It is true that training-schools exist, but
not with religious supervision, and with the moral and religious instruction
of the inmates made a prominent feature. The Marthashof offers us a
lesson well worth our learning.
The deaconess house, “Bethanien,” in Berlin, was founded by King
Frederick William IV., who as the Crown Prince took a warm interest in
Fliedner’s undertakings.3 It still remains under the protection of the
emperor, and is one of the most important mother-houses. Over three
thousand patients are annually admitted to the hospital connected with the

house, and five hundred children are treated at a dispensary devoted solely
to cases of diphtheria. Outside of the city it has thirty-three stations. There
are also the Lazarus Hospital and Deaconess Home, the Paul Gerhardt
Deaconess Home, provided for parish deaconesses, and the Elizabeth
Hospital and Home, which started independently but is now allied to
Kaiserswerth.
The deaconess house in Neudettelsau stands in closest union with the
Lutheran Church. The sisters are mostly from the higher ranks of society,
and intellectual training is made prominent. Certain liturgical forms are
used, and in the main deaconesses are employed in preparing ecclesiastical
vestments and embroideries for church adornment.
In marked contrast to Dettelsau is the deaconess house at Berne. It is
almost a private institution, having only slight connection with the State
Church. It owes its origin to Sophie Wurdemberger, a member of one of
the old patrician families of Berne. A visit to England made her acquainted
with Elizabeth Fry, with the usual beneficent result of increased interest
and activity in good works. On her return to Berne she gained the support
of a society of women, and through their aid secured a hospital and
deaconess home. It is now fourth in number among the largest mother-
houses, has two hundred and ninety-seven deaconesses, five affiliated
houses, and forty-five different fields of work.
The oldest mother-house in Switzerland is at St. Loup, not far from
Lausanne, standing on one of the beautiful heights of that picturesque
region. It was founded by Pastor Germond in 1841, through the direct
influence of the work at Kaiserswerth. There are now seventy-three
deaconesses, mostly acting as nurses either in private homes or public
institutions.4
There is also a large institution at Riehen near Basel, which sends out
two hundred deaconesses. The greater number are of the peasant class, and
are nearly all employed as nurses. The home at Zürich was at first a
daughter-house of Riehen, but is now an independent institution with
twenty-seven stations. In Austria there is a mother-house at
Gallneukirchen from which sisters are sent forth, four of them working in
as many Vienna parishes. The story of deaconess work in Austria is an
interesting one, and is told by Miss Williams in a recent number of The
Churchman, from which the following extracts are taken:

“The Protestants of Gallneukirchen were first formed into an
independent parish in the year 1872, and it is the only one lying between
the Danube and the Bohemian frontier. It is very widely extended, but
numbers only three hundred and eighteen souls, and is so poor that with
the greatest effort it can raise only four hundred florins a year (about one
hundred and sixty dollars) for church and school. With the aid of those
interested in the work a parish-house has been secured, where the pastor
and his wife reside, and in which is the deaconess asylum for the aged,
infirm, and insane of all classes. It has not as yet been possible to clear off
the debt on the purchase. Still the sisters strive in every way to enlarge
their usefulness, so that they now possess extensive buildings and farms—
only partly paid for, it is true—wherein to house the many afflicted who
apply to them for aid. In one building, standing alone on a hill, they
purpose to collect the insane patients, and suitable additions are now being
made to insure their safety and comfort. In another village, two hours’
drive from here, is their school, where more than sixty boys and girls are
taught, fed, and clothed, in most cases gratuitously, at worst at a nominal
charge.”
“The sisters are bright and cheerful, and keep their various dwellings
so exquisitely neat and clean, with their white-washed walls adorned with
Scripture texts and pictures. No work, however menial, is beneath them. I
have myself seen one scrubbing the stairs, and in turns they sleep on a
hard straw bed on the floor, ready to rise in the night as often as a bell
summons them to the aid of a suffering invalid or a refractory lunatic.”
There are a few institutions that exist independently of those
represented at the Kaiserswerth General Conference. They stand alone for
various reasons; perhaps they have not met the conditions required of
those which belong to the association. Any house whose administration
rests exclusively either in the hands of a man or a woman is excluded from
the Conference. In every mother-house there represented the
administrative head is twofold, consisting of a gentleman, who, with rare
exceptions, is a clergyman, and a lady who is a deaconess. The
Kaiserswerth authorities regard this joint management as an indispensable
condition.
The rector, as he is usually called, cares for the intellectual and
spiritual instruction of the probationers, conducts public services in the
chapel, and issues the publications and reports of the house.

The oberin, or house-mother, is the direct head of the sisters. She is
responsible for the interior management, regulates the duties of the sisters,
and gives practical instruction. The two are jointly responsible for the
acceptance and dismissal of probationers, for the assignment of the sisters
to different fields of labor, and the kind of labor required. Every mother-
house has its own peculiarities. The personal characteristics of those who
conduct it are naturally impressed upon the house.
Then, too, the influence of environment is to be reckoned with. The
house may be located in a large city or in a small one; in the country or in
towns. It may be under the influence of a State Church, as in Germany, or
of Christians of all Churches, as at Mildmay. It will share the
characteristics of the race of people from which come its workers.
Doubtless in the Methodist Episcopal Church in America the deaconesses
that eventually become recognized as set apart to special Christian service,
through the training that is provided for them, will be women who are
peculiarly adapted to the needs of that Church, with all the distinguishing
American traits that will prepare them to understand the people whom
they are to serve, and that will give them access to the hearts of this
people.
If the deaconess cause should gain favor with us as it has in Europe,
and should the deaconesses become as established in the social life of the
people as they are there, the effective agencies will be largely increased
that are to deal with the questions that come to the front whenever, as in
great cities, large numbers of people are massed together.
Deaconess institutions now exist in Switzerland, France, Holland,
Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Austria, England, and Germany,
while the countries in which these homes have stations are literally too
numerous to mention. Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, the countries of
Northern Africa, and of Asia Minor, as well as isolated mission stations
throughout the entire world are now served by deaconesses.
If there were ten times the number of sisters, places could be at once
found for them. It is instructive on this point to read what Pastor
Disselhoff says5 in the account he gives of the various demands made
upon him, which he has been unable to meet. One of the letters he quotes
was from an English missionary on the Cameron River. “Send us
deaconesses for our hospital,” he says. “It was built for European sailors,
especially Germans. We hope and trust to overcome the superstitions of

the natives, and that they too, may come to be healed.” But there were no
sisters to send.
A similar call came from Shanghai, but as it was impossible to return a
favorable answer, although the hospital was a Protestant institution, the
Sisters of Mercy were invited in, and given control. From 1870 up to 1886
over two hundred and twenty-seven places at widely remote distances,
such as Madras, New Orleans, Port Said, Rio de Janeiro, and elsewhere,
sent most urgent appeals for Kaiserswerth deaconesses to be assigned
them, but invariably the same answer must be returned: “There are none to
send.” Disselhoff closes by saying, “How many open doors has God
given! Whose fault is it that they remain closed?”

1 Schäfer, Die Weibliche Diakonie, vol. i, p. 21.
2 The details of the deaconess work at Mülhausen are largely taken from
Schäfer’s Die Weibliche Diakonie, vol. ii.
3 Life of Pastor Fliedner, translated by C. Winckworth, London, 1867, p. 133.
“The favor of the great, especially the condescending kindness of our late
Sovereign, he took as a gift from the King of kings, who allowed his own work
to be thus promoted. He strenuously avoided all personal distinction, and never
wore the order which had been sent him; ‘for a servant of the Church,’ he said,
‘there should be but one order—the Cross of the Lord.’”
4 Der Armen und Kranken Freund, August, 1888.
5 Denkschrift zur Jubelfeier, pp. 248, 249.

CHAPTER VIII.

DEACONESSES IN GERMAN METHODISM.

The good results of the work of deaconesses in the other Protestant
bodies of Germany doubtless had their influence upon German
Methodism. As far back as 1868 in Wurtemberg, and later in Frankfort,
some preachers introduced parish deaconesses for the care of the sick; but
well-directed efforts, and unity in management, were lacking.
The existing association was started July 8, 1874, under the title of
“Bethanienverein,” or the Bethany Society, through the efforts of several
members of the German Conference, among whom were Rev. G. Weiss,
who, with two deaconesses, initiated the work in Bremen, Rev. Frederick
Eilers, the present inspector, and Rev. G. Hausser, who for several years
was president of the board of direction, and now resides in America.1 A
further number of ministers showed themselves inclined to stand by the
society, both by their influence and through contributions taken in their
churches, so that in 1876 the first trained deaconesses were set at work in
the city of Frankfort.
As has been said,2 the little institution in its early days had to pass
through a series of critical experiences, as a young child has to encounter
the series of childhood diseases that assail it; but it outlived them all, and
is now enjoying a vigorous youth. It was but another illustration of the
truth that all beginnings are difficult, and that successful experience has to
be bought by overcoming hinderances and obstacles.
To-day there is no branch of German Methodism more successfully
and substantially incorporated into the Church life than the deaconess
society, and none that wins greater favor among those outside of
denominational lines.
The first printed report was issued in October, 1884. In this the
inspector says: “Our society is now in three cities, Frankfort, Hamburg,
and Berlin, and our sisters are not able to meet all the demands upon them
for service.” At that time there were thirteen deaconesses and twenty

probationers. The last report, issued in July, 1888, shows an increase in
numbers both of deaconesses and their stations. There are now eighty-nine
deaconesses, eleven of whom are probationers, and there are stations in
five places. Besides the ones previously mentioned in Germany, two
additional stations have been started in Switzerland: one in Zürich, and
one in St. Gall.
Nearly all the Methodist German deaconesses are engaged in caring
for the sick; it is only recently that attempts have been made in some other
directions of charitable endeavor. In the last report we are told that at
Frankfort steps have been taken to reform fallen women. One of the sisters
seems to be especially endowed with tact and ability for this difficult
work. She has already induced twenty-two of these girls to enter the
asylum at Sachsenhausen. The police authorities and city magistrates have
given this same sister access to the women prisoners, which is a decided
favor, coming from German officials. Besides her work in this particular,
she has devoted her remaining time to the care of the poor and the sick.
Many deaconesses were called upon to go out as nurses in private
families, and, in order to obtain room to accommodate the added number
these services required, it has been necessary to rent an additional house.
There are two clinics in connection with the institution; one for those
suffering from nose, throat, or lung diseases, the other for diseases of
women. In both, the hours of consultation are free, and attract numerous
visitors. Two hundred and forty-six people were received in the hospital
last year, and were cared for in four thousand one hundred and fifty days
of nursing. Spiritual results are also anticipated from the seed of God’s
word sown in the hearts of the sick through daily prayer and Sunday
services.
The house at Frankfort is too small for its increasing needs, and a
permanent home of more ample dimensions is greatly to be desired.
In Hamburg the house has been enlarged, and there is now room for
thirty-five sisters; yet still there are more demands made than can be met.
In one month ninety requests were handed in for the aid of the
deaconesses. The city authorities offered them a large lot of land at a very
moderate sum, which is at present used as a garden, and adds much to the
enjoyment of the home.
On the 4th of March, 1888, occurred the anniversary of the founding
of the Hamburg house, at which time six sisters were set apart to their life

calling by a service of consecration. As in all places where our
deaconesses are employed, so also in Hamburg their influence is felt in the
increase of religious life among the families they serve.
In Berlin, again, there is an imperative call for enlarged house
accommodations, and more sisters are needed to meet the requests for help
that are constantly coming to them. As the report expresses it, “Something
must happen!”3 After six years of activity in Berlin the deaconesses find
themselves well appreciated, and with a broad field of labor. The city
authorities gave them permission to take a house collection during the
months of February and March. One of the German ministers said, “This
is an unusual favor, only granted in exceptional cases, as when a village is
swept away, or there is an inundation, or a failure of harvests.” This
collection was no easy task. In the depth of winter, in rigorous cold and
snow the sisters had to climb weary flights of stairs, in houses four and
five stories high, arranged in flats; to knock at many doors, often meeting
with but slight success or a positive refusal; yet daily they went with fresh
courage to their work, encouraged by the thought that they were toiling
not for themselves, but to serve the needy, “for Jesus’ sake.” The
collection resulted in obtaining nearly twenty thousand marks, to which
has been added the loan of a larger sum at a small rate of interest, so that
there is good prospect of soon obtaining a permanent home as the property
of the deaconess society.
St. Gall is one of the newer stations, but from the beginning it has been
a work of promise. In this old center of missionary operations, where Irish
missionaries founded one of the most famous monasteries of mediæval
times, is now to be erected a hospital under the care of Methodist
deaconesses, who have already begun to collect means for this purpose. In
Scheffel’s famous story of Ekkehard the only way in which the Duchess
Hadwig could enter the monastery of St. Gall (as there was a law that no
woman should set her foot upon the threshold) was by the ingenious
device of a young monk, who lifted her over in his arms. These peaceful
women of Methodism are finding no obstacle now as did Hadwig of old;
they do not need even figuratively to be lifted over the entering threshold;
they are gladly welcomed, and are introducing a new element into the life
of the old city.
In Zürich seven deaconesses are at work under the protection, and with
the sympathetic co-operation, of the pastor and the church. I saw

something of the deaconesses and their duties in this place. The inspector,
Rev. Fr. Eilers, came with the first deaconesses and introduced them to
their new field when I was a resident of the city. On Sunday morning he
occupied the pulpit, preaching from Rom. xvi, 1, commending the
deaconesses to the kindness and helpful aid of the members of the church.
I used often to see Sister Myrtha, who was the head sister, hastening hither
and thither on her errands of mercy. In her plain black dress and round
shoulder-cape to match, and broad white collar and white cap, she was a
pleasant and attractive figure. She was always happy and contented, ready
to answer the many questions with which I plied her in my desire to look
through the eyes of a deaconess, and to obtain her views of the office to
which she belonged. She had a great love for her work, and believed that
she was doing service for Christ in a true missionary field. Her simple
uniform was a distinguishing mark that insured her respect and attention
wherever she went, and she regarded it as a garb of honor that marked her
as belonging to the daughters of the great King. You could not call such a
life an austere or unnatural one. It was too thoroughly filled with thoughts
of love to others to be either morbid or introspective. I obtained my first
favorable impressions of the usefulness of deaconesses and their
importance to the Church from the cheerful, contented labors of Sister
Myrtha and her associates among the poor and sick of Zürich—quiet
women, of no particular prominence in the social world, and not learned or
accomplished; “nur einfache Mädchen” (only simple maidens, quiet,
ordinary women, as we might translate Sister Myrtha’s own phrase), but
living “not to be ministered unto, but to minister,” commending their creed
by their deeds, and winning sympathy by the loving, self-denying spirit
that they manifest.
During the last year a house of rest has been opened similar to the
house Salem at Kaiserswerth. This is called by the beautiful name
“Gottestreue,” or “God’s Fidelity.” The report says that they have named it
God’s Fidelity in recollection of this: “That the Lord has so faithfully led
us and has cared for us in all storms which, especially at the beginning of
the work, threatened to overwhelm it, has watched over us and upheld us,
and has so richly blessed us.” The acquisition of this house came through
the work of the sisters. One of them was caring for an aged widow, whose
sympathies were so won that she offered to give her property, amounting
to about ten thousand marks, to the deaconess society, asking only that she

be cared for for the remainder of her life. This sum enabled the house to be
built, and last summer it was opened for use. It lies upon a mountain, has a
pleasant outlook to the south, and a beautiful view over the valley of the
Main and off to the distant forests. Near at hand is a grove of chestnut
trees, and farther removed are extensive pine forests with pleasant walks.
The house is in the charge of one of the older sisters.
The regulations touching the training and duties of the sisters are
similar to those of Kaiserswerth. Two years of probation are required, part
of which is devoted to practical work under the superintendence of an
older deaconess. The rules of daily life are much the same; a quiet half
hour of prayer and meditation is strongly urged, and the same freedom in
control of personal property and withdrawal from the office exists. It is
pleasant to record that our deaconesses have secured to themselves such
good report for their usefulness that the city officials in Germany accord to
them the free use of steamboats and street-cars; and the Prussian
government does the same for roads that are under State control.
The Bethany Society of the German Methodists is self-supporting and
is independent of the Conference, save only that the board of direction is
composed of Methodist preachers chosen by the Conference. Each of the
homes at the five stations has also its board of control, made up of the
inspector, the pastor in charge, and the head sister. The inspector is a
member of the Conference, but has no appointment, as his whole time is
devoted to the duty of superintendence. Last year the society took the
further step of deciding that henceforth the deaconesses should not be sent,
as heretofore, to outside hospitals or other institutions to complete their
training, but should be given the advantages they require at our own
homes. Owing to this decision only six probationers can be received for
the coming year, and others who have made application to enter must wait
their turn.
The German Methodist Church, the daughter of American Methodism,
anticipated the parent Church in utilizing the womanly gifts and services
of deaconesses as members of her aggressive forces, and furnished it a
very helpful and stimulating example.

1 Jahresbericht des Bethanienvereins, 1884, Bremen.
2 Der Christliche Apologete, article by Rev. G. Hausser, September 20, 1888.
3 Jahresbericht, 1888, page 8.

CHAPTER IX.

DEACONESSES I N PA R I S .

When in Paris we visited the deaconess establishment on the Rue de
Reuilly, and had the pleasure, ever to be remembered, of seeing the
institution in all its workings under the guidance of Mademoiselle Sara
Monod, the daughter of Adolphe Monod; members of a family that have
been Protestants of the Protestants in the annals of France. We examined
with some degree of thoroughness the different departments, and saw
them in the busy working hours, when the full activities of the great
establishment were in exercise.
In addition to the information and reports then secured I am under
further obligation to Mademoiselle Monod for other material lately
received, among which is a pamphlet entitled Une Visite à la Maison de
Diaconesses, by Madame W. Monod, “the worthy daughter of one of the
founders, and the worthy wife of one of the present chaplains of the
institution.” I have translated freely from this in the following pages, as it
is pervaded by a tone of intimate knowledge, and nothing can take the
place of the long years of close personal relation that make this little book
so fresh and attractive in its recital.
The institution is situated on the outskirts of the Faubourg St. Antoine,
upon an elevation, where the view in one direction is limited by Mont St.
Geneviève, and on the other embraces a large territory intersected by the
windings of the Seine and by lines of railroad. The space is thickly dotted
by the high chimneys of manufactories and massive constructions of
various forms. A great pile of buildings which fronts upon the street forms
one of the sides of the court within; two long wings extend at right angles,
which seem to have been built at different intervals of time. That on the
right ends with the penitentiary, or house of correction; the left wing
terminates more modestly at the garden entrance; while farther, at the
extreme portion of the grounds, still to the left, rises the hospital, standing

apart from the rest. The whole establishment, including the gardens, has an
extent of fifty-five hundred square meters.
In the little room at the entrance, where the concierge is usually found
in these French houses, sits one of the sisters, surrounded by bell-cords
and tubes and bells which are constantly in use, bringing messages to and
fro in all directions. A sister is always on duty, morning, afternoon, and at
night when it is necessary, responding with discreet politeness to the
inquiries made. Adjoining are the little reception rooms, where comers and
goers are met, and the consulting-room of the distinguished oculist, who
twice a week gives gratuitously his valuable services. Then come the
office and reception-room of the chaplain of the house, followed by the
little “prophet’s chamber,” occupied by the former directress when she
returns upon visits which her age and poor health render only too
infrequent.
What the French call the “économat” or business office, next demands
our attention. A dozen registers admirably kept, portfolios of all kinds, and
numberless papers are arranged upon different shelves. The sister in
charge notes in her journal every entrance and every departure, and all the
journeys and leaves of absence of the sisters. In a safe she has the
necessary money for current expenses, the rest being deposited in the
bank. She provides the stores, examines the accounts of the pharmacy and
the kitchen, pays the salaried employees, gives or sends to each deaconess
the modest sum allowed her for personal needs, and transacts the daily
business of the house. She must also every month hand in three reports—
one to the Prefect of Police, another to the Minister of the Interior, and the
third to the Minister of Finance, giving detailed statistics concerning the
age, occupation, and progress of her protégés. “How many know how to
read? How many to read and write? How many to read, write, and cipher?
What progress has been made since the last report?” These are some of the
questions she has to answer; and, meanwhile, if a crowd of little children
come in, she turns from her writing and calculations and plays with them
as if she had nothing else to do.
Let us see where these children come from. Here is the “Salle
d’Asile,” as it is called, with its benches and chairs for the little ones,
maps and historical pictures suspended upon the walls, slates and globes,
and all the belongings of a school-room. The sister who has directed this
school for thirty-five years has seen sons and daughters succeed fathers

and mothers. More than nineteen hundred children have passed through
her hands. With what pride she showed us the copy-books, and pointed out
some particularly good compositions. Hers was no perfunctory task; a
mother could not have displayed greater interest in her children. The
number of pupils varies from one hundred and ten to one hundred and
thirty, a little less than half of them being Catholics. All kinds of primary
instruction are given, including gymnastics, singing, and marching. Bible
stories hold an important place in this elementary teaching, even those
which are sometimes considered to be beyond the reach of children; for
there is nothing in any other book to take their place. It is useless to add
that not only lessons are given, but shoes, aprons, and garments of all
kinds, some of the little ones being clothed from head to foot by the
institution. Every day soup is distributed, ostensibly to the poor and the ill-
nourished, but practically partaken of by all. Even during the siege of Paris
the soup continued to appear. It gradually became less substantial, it is
true, but still it was soup.
From four to six o’clock the mothers and older sisters and brothers, or
perhaps some old lady who has been engaged to have the care of several
children, come to take the little ones home. The influence of these children
is felt beyond the school-room; it is a visible, constant force. Such a little
girl has persuaded her grandmother not to work on Sundays. Another asks
for a book that her father can read aloud to the family. And similar
instances could be multiplied; they are always to be obtained where loving
Christian hearts are interested in children, and when they remember that
fine saying of Jacqueline Pascal; “Parler à Dieu des petites âmes plus qu’
aux petites âmes de Dieu.”1
There used formerly to be attached to this a “Crèche,” where a mother
could bring her babe when she went to work in the morning, and could
come for it at night. But the government has now started a day-home for
this district of the city, so this part of the work of the deaconesses has been
discontinued.
Passing by the vegetable garden, which is also a pleasure garden for
the sick and infirm, we come to the hospital. This was opened in
September, 1873, and can accommodate sixty to seventy patients. There
are two large wards for women, one for children, a dormitory for aged
women, and rooms with one, two, and three beds. All are perfectly heated,
lighted, and ventilated. The medical inspector visits the house every

month, and gives it due praise for meeting every condition of modern
medical science.
A committee of ladies takes the hospital as an especial object of its
care. They have organized a system of patronage, by which beds are
furnished poor patients at a low rate, in some cases gratuitously. Fifteen
subscribers give each two francs, or forty cents, a month; the sick man or
his patron pays a franc a day, to which the Deaconess Home adds also a
franc daily. These three francs represent the bare expenses of a hospital
bed. Of course, sixty cents a day is far from meeting the entire cost of rent,
food, baths, medicine, and service; but those patients who have been
accustomed to a certain degree of comfort in life, when paying three
francs, are freed from the painful impression of receiving charity.
Many of the patients, when sent forth from the hospital, are directed to
the Convalescents’ Home, at Passy. This is an inestimable benefit; what
could this poor servant do, whose strength is not yet sufficient to
undertake fatiguing labor? Or this mother of a family, who would certainly
fall ill again if obliged to resume the heavy burden of housekeeping,
accompanied by privations and wearing economies, were it not for the
home at Passy? Such homes of rest and convalescence are a necessity in
connection with every well-equipped deaconess institution. The pharmacy
is in the charge of a deaconess trained especially for her duties. A
deaconess director, several nurse deaconesses and probationers, with one
or two aged women, constitute the working force of the hospital outside of
the physicians. So many denominational hospitals are now arising in
America that the arrangement of hospitals under the care of deaconesses in
Germany, France, and England, cannot fail to have interest for us.
There are no nurses like the deaconesses. Other nurses, however well
prepared in the best of training-schools, do not have the same high motive
that lifts the service onto the plane of religious duty, where the question of
self-interest is wholly lost sight of. It was the perception of this truth that
led the authorities of the German Hospital in Philadelphia to send to
Germany for deaconesses as nurses, and that has brought about the
erection of the magnificent Mary J. Drexel Home for Deaconesses.
But let us return to Paris and our examination of the home on the Rue
de Reuilly. Leaving the hospital, and turning in the opposite direction from
that to which we came, we are at the house of correction. Bars of iron
before the windows apprise us of the character of the building. There are

two divisions of inmates; the one in which the discipline is more rigid is
called the retenue. Those placed here are generally between fourteen and
twenty-one years of age, although occasionally a child of precocious
depravity is met with, who has to be separated from those under less
restriction even at ten years of age. The disciplinaire is the division of
milder restraint. The twenty-five or twenty-six places in each of the two
divisions are ordinarily applied for in advance. Pastor Louis Valette said:
“We shall not have room enough until we have too much room.”
There are three classes of inmates: those who are put here by their
parents for insubordination or other grave faults; those who are sent here
by order of a judge of the court for a limited period, and those who are
recognized guilty of a misdemeanor, but are acquitted on account of their
age, and must remain a certain time, sometimes until they have attained
their majority, in houses of correction and education.
The Minister of the Interior pays twelve cents a day for pupils of the
third class; the Prefect of Police four hundred dollars a year for those of
the second class, whatever their number, only the establishment is bound
to receive them at any time and at any hour.
There is a system of rewards, to promote good behavior, and those
who profit by it can accumulate a small sum of money, sometimes
amounting to sixteen or eighteen dollars, to have when they go out from
here. In other cases there is a large indebtedness on the opposite side,
which can never be collected.
The days are occupied in household work, washing, ironing, and
sewing, and two hours of schooling. When the nature of the work will
permit, instructive books are read aloud, or the deaconesses give pleasant
talks on different subjects that will keep the thoughts of the workers busy,
and give them helpful ideas to store away in their minds. As we went
about in the sewing-classes, we noticed that the time was invariably
utilized in some way that was profitable to the girls. Most of them are
pitiably ignorant of even the commonest knowledge demanded in life.
There are separate court-yards for the recreations of the two divisions. The
girls of the disciplinaire are sometimes taken outside the institution for
walks; those of the retenue, never. The work in this last division is
especially difficult, and requires the utmost patience and love. These poor
girls have to be watched carefully, and kept isolated from one another.
Some are greatly influenced by the atmosphere of the place, the gentle,

firm kindness of the sisters, and the restriction they receive. Others go out
to take up again the old life of immorality, and are dragged away into the
meshes of sin, finding their place, after brief delay, in the wards of a
hospital, or sometimes a suicide’s grave. It is a singular fact that the
numerical appreciation of those influenced by this school of reform is
precisely the same as that given in the report of the similar work at
Kaiserswerth, although the two reports have no connection with one
another, and one in no wise supposes the other. Thirty-three years ago one
of the founders of the institution, Pastor Valette, said in answer to a
question as to the amount of good accomplished, “Sixteen years ago this
question came to my ears, and I stated as a principle that one cannot and
ought not to answer it precisely and absolutely, because no one but God
can give an appreciation of its real value. However, out of curiosity, I set
myself at work to gather and register some results; and, matured by the
experience of six years, I offer them, such as they are: One third of the
moral results may be considered excellent; another third as offering good
guarantees, and a final third has no value. It seems to me, however, as I am
sure it will seem to you, that here is cause for rejoicing. Here is something
for which to praise the Lord, and to encourage those who administer our
affairs. For, I ask of the merchants who listen to me, if any one were to
offer you thirty-three and one third per cent. assured, with the hope of a
dividend, would you refuse the investment?”
In 1871 an occurrence took place worthy of being recorded. On April
13, at ten o’clock in the evening, emissaries of the Commune entered the
house, revolvers in hand. Armed men were posted at all the entrances. The
deaconesses were summoned to one of the parlors, and held prisoners until
three o’clock the following morning. Meanwhile an investigation took
place among the girls in the penitentiary, as they would be the most likely
of any of the inmates of the house to have complaints. The officers of the
Commune interrogated them closely. Their answers were favorable
beyond all expectation. “Are you happy here?” “Oh, yes, very happy.”
“What have you done deserving punishment?” “Nothing that we need talk
to you about.” “How are you punished here?” “The sisters don’t punish us;
they advise us what to do, and warn us.” “Now,” said the chief to one,
“just tell me quietly, no one else need hear; if you are not contented I will
take you away with me.” “What a coward you are,” she answered, quite
scornfully. Not one of them thought of escaping. All this time the prison

wagon had been waiting in the street, and would have been filled with
deaconesses had the slightest cause of complaint been found; but it went
away empty. Later the sisters had occasion to go to the head-quarters of
the Commune in their ward, and they met with polite consideration. This
is not the only experience of the troubled political life of the great city that
the deaconesses have had. The Faubourg St. Antoine has been noted ever
since the time of the Fronde as being the haunt of all that is turbulent and
revolutionary. In February 1848, a great barricade was thrown across the
Rue de Reuilly, men, women, and children hurrying with bricks and stones
to help in building it. Then came the moment of storm and attack, and
forty-two men lay dead in the street. Some of the wounded were received
by the sisters, crowded as they were with the children whom the mothers
had brought for safety. Meanwhile the deaconesses went about
unmolested, bought food and medicine, hunted friends and relatives for
the sick, and through all that period of excitement and strife kept up their
ministrations of mercy.
There is no distinct home for women who are left alone and desire
Christian surroundings, as is the case in several German institutions, but
about sixty such ladies are received as boarders in the Paris home.
Frequently also the hospitality of the house is enjoyed by young girls who
come to Paris alone to earn a livelihood, or who have to stop here for some
hours on their way to another place; a great advantage for inexperienced
young women, unversed in the ways of a city, who find themselves alone
in the great world for the first time.
The preparatory school for deaconesses is on the first floor, below the
rooms of the sisters. For two years the candidates are under the instruction
of superior sisters. They are received into the house gratuitously, and
accept its regulations while they remain. They have to pass through all
practical duties of house-work, and care of the sick and children. They
also pursue practical and theoretical courses in hygiene, and receive
lessons in singing and pedagogics. The chaplains of the institution give
them courses of religious instruction, and lectures on Church history.
Some (the larger number) need very elementary lessons; others come with
a good education. Each is directed according to her education and
experience. In fact, all classes are represented among the deaconesses;
servants, teachers, ladies, and shepherdesses. They come from different
parts of France, but in larger numbers from the South.

Deaconesses are constantly in demand to go out in the city as nurses in
private families. Such requests often meet with refusals, because sisters
cannot be spared for such duties. Their work is limited by the smallness of
their numbers. The last report gives sixty deaconesses attached to the
Home on the Rue de Reuilly.
The work is upon sterile soil as compared to Germany. The Protestants
of France are in a small minority, surrounded by an overwhelming
majority of Catholics; while in the beginning of the work some influential
members of the Protestant faith, having an inadequate comprehension of
the good in the movement, and a misconception of its plans, exerted a
powerful influence that for awhile told adversely to the cause. The home
has now passed beyond the stage when it can be affected by adverse
criticisms; and it to-day not only has the approbation of Christians, but
also of those who regard it solely from the point of view of philanthropy.2
There are but two parish deaconesses who are at work in Belleville and
Ste. Marie. The directors of the institution would be glad to increase the
number, as they regard the work of the sisters under the direction of the
city pastors as that which presents the widest opportunities for doing good,
while it perpetuates those aspects of the deaconess work which most
closely resemble those of the early Church. But Calvin’s reply from
Geneva to the Church of France is theirs. When petitioned to send more
pastors over the boundary into France he replied, “Send us wood and we
will send you arrows.” So the want of deaconesses is a continual
hinderance to the furtherance of the cause, both in the city and the
provinces.
The prisons for women in France are under the supervision of women,
save the office of chief director, which is filled by a man. The great
majority of the prisoners in France being Catholics, the number of Sisters
of Charity is naturally much larger than the number of deaconesses
employed. At the prison of Clermont four of the Paris deaconesses are
kept constantly at work among the prisoners.
In connection with the old prison of St. Lazare, the women’s prison of
Paris, the deaconesses have a mission especially concerned with caring for
discharged female convicts. As was the case at Kaiserswerth, this, in its
initiation, is closely connected with the saintly life of Elizabeth Fry. When
she came to Paris, in 1835, a drawing-room meeting was held at the
residence of the Duchess de Broglie, in which she told of her efforts to

effect a reform in prisons in England. None of the ladies of rank and
wealth who heard her were stirred to greater effort than was demanded by
the keen interest with which they listened to her words; but a quiet
governess was present, Mademoiselle Dumas, and with her the seeds of
truth fell into prepared ground. She determined to attempt for her own
country a portion of the work Mrs. Fry had accomplished for England.
Obtaining permission from the authorities to visit the prison of St. Lazare,
she went daily to the prisoners shut up in the rooms of this great building,
formerly the monastery of St. Vincent de Paul, the founder of the Sisters of
Charity. After the deaconess home was established, some deaconesses
were set apart to aid Mademoiselle Dumas in her work. All these years the
mission has continued, not interrupted even during the dark days of the
Commune. A committee of ladies aids in providing shelter and work for
the prisoners when they are discharged. The great publishing house of
Hachette & Co., although the head of the firm is a Catholic, provides
employment in folding paper for books.
Through the kind offices of Mademoiselle Monod we called on
Mademoiselle Dumas. She is now an extremely aged woman; but her
interest in the Christian reformation of prisoners of her sex is as keen as it
was over fifty years ago, when her labors began. The registers of many
years stand by her desk, and from these we were shown how the records of
the mission are kept, and in what way the lives of those assisted are
watched and followed for years. Narratives of individual reformation were
related to us, and through the long correspondence of many years she was
enabled to tell us of those who had turned to a better life and held to it
permanently. As she talked her eyes brightened, the tones of her voice
became stronger and clearer, her manner more vivacious, and the years
seemed to slip from her. Finally, as if overcome by the memories that the
long retrospect had brought to her, and thrilled by the recollections, of all
this work meant to her, she ended by exclaiming, “O, my dear St. Lazare!”
I looked at her astonished. I had just come from the walls of the gloomy
prison, and the place had chilled me with horror as I walked through its
corridors, and read the stories of shame and guilt in the faces of its
inmates; most hopeless looking faces, belonging to little children of ten
and twelve up to hardened and prematurely aged women of fifty and sixty.
I could not comprehend a term of endearment applied to such a place. But
a moment’s consideration led me to see that this aged saint had there

fought and won the best of her life’s battles, and the place remains
glorified in her thoughts by most hallowed and Christ-like memories.
Now that Mademoiselle Dumas is kept to her room, the deaconesses
still come to her weekly, make their reports, and keep up the proper entries
in her books.
A recent letter from Mademoiselle Monod says: “Mademoiselle
Dumas still lives, having completed her ninety-sixth year the 26th of last
December (1888). Only yesterday our prison committee met at her house,
she acting as presiding officer.”
The life of this quiet woman is but little known outside the circle of
her immediate influence, but it has been more valuable to her country than
that of many a general or statesman who has been ranked among the
famous of the earth.
The deaconess home has also branches of work in different parts of
France. These include nine hospitals, two homes for the aged and infirm,
four orphanages, two work-rooms for young girls, and a convalescents’
home. The house has established close connection with the deaconess
houses at St. Loup in French Switzerland, and with Strasburg. The ties of a
common language and former memories are strong, and these are the
homes most akin to the Paris home.
The ordinary expenses of the Paris deaconess home are about thirty
thousand dollars a year. Nearly seven thousand dollars are collected
annually by subscriptions, the remaining sum being made up of returns
arising from service.
The institution was founded in 1841 by Rev. Antoine Vermeil, a
distinguished minister of the Reformed Church, aided by a devout and
worthy minister of the Lutheran Church, Rev. Louis Valette. It has grown
up under the joint and harmonious patronage of these two State Churches.
A later deaconess home, entirely devoted to training and employing
parish deaconesses, was started in 1874, under the sole control of the
Lutheran Church. Some pastors secured the co-operation of a few young
Christian women to consecrate a portion of their strength and time to the
service of the Church. From this beginning sprang the work that exists to-
day. The home is located in the Rue de Bridaine. There are now sixteen
deaconesses, six of whom are probationers. Five of them are located in
different parishes in Paris, usually at a long distance from the central

house. Each goes forth early in the morning to her parish, where is a room
of some kind serving as a center to the work. Materials used in nursing
and medicines are stored here, and there is an office for the physician, who
comes at stated periods to give free consultation. From the district house
the deaconess goes in all directions and in all weather to look up families
which have fallen away from the Church, to gather in children for the
Sunday-school, to visit the sick, and to collect garments and money from
the rich in order to distribute them among the poor. Such are some of their
duties. Each sister is under the direction of a pastor, and is aided by his
advice, while still remaining a member of the community to which she
belongs.
In both of the deaconess houses of Paris, as in the German houses, a
special service sets apart those sisters who have passed their period of
probation, and have been received into full connection. As one of the
deaconess reports beautifully says: “When Christ calls the soul to a special
vocation he gives it special grace, and those who consecrate themselves to
him he consecrates to their task by the strength of his Spirit. So in
conformity with the usages of the primitive Church we give consecration
to our sisters by the laying on of hands. The consecration is not a
sacramental act, conferring a particular character, greater sanctity, or
special powers; neither is it simply a ceremony or pious formality. It is a
real and efficacious benediction, which the Saviour accords to our sisters
to consecrate them to their holy work, as he accorded it to the deacons
who received the imposition of the apostles’ hands.”
The good that can be accomplished by deaconesses working together
with ministers in behalf of the manifold interests of the Church is
incalculable. The most faithful pastor can make only short and
unsatisfactory visits. Many sorrows which he overlooks the deaconess can
discern and assuage. She knows best how to reach the heart of a sorrowing
woman, to care for her needs, to discern her wants, and to bring solace to
the sorrowing and succor to the needy. Deaconesses who have been
specially trained for service cannot be spared now that the world has
learned to know of them. For “charity cannot take the place of experience,
nor good-will replace knowledge;” and trained Christian service is the
highest of all service.
The old spirit of the Huguenots has not died out of France, and with
that ready susceptibility to noble ideas which is a marked characteristic of

the French character, we can expect to see the deaconess cause thrive and
prosper as it has done in other lands.

1 Speak to God about the little ones, rather than to the little souls of God.
2 See a sympathetic study of the work by Maxime du Camp, a member of the
French Academy, in his book Paris Bienfaisant.

CHAPTER X.

DEACONESSES IN ENGLAND.

To learn the first facts about deaconesses in England, we must go back
to the early days of the Puritans. In 1576, under Queen Elizabeth, about
sixty non-conformist ministers of the eastern counties assembled to make
regulations concerning Church constitution and discipline, and one of
them was as follows: “Touching deacons of both sorts, namely, both men
and women, the Church should be admonished what is required by the
apostle, that they are not to choose men by custom or course, or for their
riches, but for their faith, zeal, and integrity; and that the Church is to pray
in the meantime to be so directed that they may choose them that are meet.
Let the names of those that are thus chosen be published the next Lord’s
Day, and after that their duties to the Church, and the Church’s duty
toward them. Then let them be received into their office with the general
prayers of the whole Church.”1
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, godly 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.”2
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 assembled 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 Béguines 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 God the Father.’”3
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’ Institution in Devonshire 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.”4
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
gratitude, and now is living in honored old age in one of the London
institutions 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 noble 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 entitled
An Account of the Institution 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, entitled “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 title 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
entitled 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 institutions, notably that of Mildmay.
Among the institutions 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 institutions 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 institution, 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.5

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
institutions. 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.6 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, chastity, 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 assistance; and with a view of
being trained, therefore, for spiritual and temporal usefulness among the
poor.”7
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.8
The first of these was founded in 1861, and is now known as the
London Diocesan Deaconess Institution. 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 Kaiserswerth9 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 institution, 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 associates are connected with this home. The associates 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 associates 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 institution 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 institutions is cared for by the deaconesses. There is more
of ceremony and formality in the English deaconess institutions 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.10
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
Härter 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 institutions, 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 classes, and all the multitudinous
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 assail 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 God-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 sunshiny, peaceful faces, and sympathetic,
loving hearts.
Taking the total number of deaconess institutions under the Church of
England, there are eighty one deaconesses, thirty-four probationers, and
two hundred and twenty-nine associates.11
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 title, for service in the Church;”12
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 institutions, 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 institution 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 institution 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 assist 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
washing is done for two classes: 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
passed by Parliament which enabled Mrs. Meredith and her associates 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, Duchess of Teck, who aided
in obtaining funds to build it. The institution 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 class 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 association. 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 association with degrees of membership.
When we found ourselves becoming a corporation of importance, and
having combined to acquire property and to found institutions, we invited
the help and counsel of some men of known eminence. Our institutions 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 Association. I am daily persuaded of the value of
such organizations.”
In connection with the London West Central Mission there is an
association 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.”13
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.

1 Daniel Neal’s History of the Puritans, London, 1703, vol. i, pp. 344–346.
2 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.
3 Schäfer, Die Weibliche Diakonie, vol. i, p. 207.
4 The Royal Guide to London Churches for 1866, 1867. By Herbert Fry, p. 162.
5 Official Year-book of the Church of England, 1889.
6 Andover Review, June, 1888, art., “European Deaconesses,” p. 578.
7 Deaconesses in the Church of England. Griffith & Farran: London, 1880, p. 22.
8 Official Year-book of the Church of England, 1889.
9 Armen und Kranken Freund, October, 1888.
10 “Deaconess Work in England,” The Churchman, May 19, 1888.
11 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.
12 London Diocesan Deaconess District Services.
13 First Annual Report of the London West Central Mission, pp. 14–42.

CHAPTER XI.

M I L D M AY I N S T I T U T I O N S .

Valuable suggestions will be obtained from the study of every
successful deaconess institution, and none will perhaps furnish more
practical models for American Methodism than does the establishment at
Mildmay Park in North London. Its methods of work are flexible, and
allow place for a diversity of talent among the workers, while a wide
variety of charitable and evangelistic effort is undertaken. These two
causes give a breadth and vigor to the work at Mildmay that impress every
one who has knowledge of it.
Whenever we find a good cause carried on successfully and
prosperously, we know that behind it there must be a strong man or
woman who has “thought and wrought” to good purpose. So the first
question that arises in the mind of the visitor who for the first time forms
one of the audience in the great Conference Hall, or looks about in the
adjoining building to see the deaconess home, is, “Who first thought this
out? Who was the founder of this wonderful mission?” And the answer
tells us that Mildmay originated, as did Kaiserswerth, in the prayerful
determination of a Christian minister and his wife to reach out to every
good end that God’s spirit of enlightenment could suggest to them. Rev.
William Pennefather was rector of Christ’s Church at Barnet, and while
devoted to his ministerial duties his sympathies did not end with his own
people, nor his own denomination. His home was sometimes called the
“Missing Link,” for it was a meeting-place for noblemen and farmers,
bishops and clergymen of all churches; a place “where nationalities and
denominations were easily merged in the broad sunshine of Christian
love.”1 He carried his principle of Christian fellowship further, for, after
mature deliberation, in 1856, he issued a call for a conference to be held at
Barnet whose object was “to bring into closer social communion the
members of various Churches, as children of the one Father, animated by
the same life, and heirs together of the same glory.”2 These conferences

have been continued from then to the present time, and are known and
prized in many lands. I was present at the conference of 1888, and
representatives were there from nearly every Protestant country, while on
the platform were leaders of nearly every Protestant denomination,
furnishing a wonderful illustration of the union of the Christian Church in
Christ; a spiritual union so real and eternal that the minor differences of
faith were swallowed up in the great fact that in Christ Jesus all are one.
Gradually a variety of missionary and evangelistic agencies grew up
about the conferences. In 1860 the little Home was opened at Barnet
which subsequently developed into the deaconess house at Mildmay Park.
The question of calling into more active exercise the energies of educated
Christian women, as we have seen in the preceding chapter, was one that
was attracting attention at the time in England. Mr. and Mrs. Pennefather
had long desired to do something in this direction, and their desire took
this practical form. In its beginning it had to battle with all the “definite
and indefinite objections” that could be advanced against any attempt at
organizing woman’s work. But those days of latent suspicion or more open
antagonism are long past. The institution has justified its right to be by
doing a work that otherwise would have remained undone.
In 1864 Mr. Pennefather was called to St. Jude’s, Mildmay Park, and
the philanthropic and religious undertakings which he had begun were
transferred to his new home. He took with him the “iron room” that had
been erected for the conferences at Barnet, and continued to use it for the
same purposes at Mildmay; while the missionary training-school and
home were accommodated in a house which he hired for the purpose.
His new parish was in a part of London where poverty and want
abounded. There was no adequate provision for the education of the poor
and neglected children, so he erected a building where elementary
instruction could be given at a very low price. A soup-kitchen was started
at the iron room: clubs of various kinds were formed, and other agencies
were set at work, both for the temporal and spiritual welfare of the people.
The degraded and miserable neighborhood gradually underwent a
transformation, and the police testified that there was a manifest restraint
on the lawless locality. “To many of the waifs of life no human hand was
stretched in kindness until he came to the district and taught them what
Christianity was.”3

A small legacy coming to him, he bought a house with a large garden
attached, and made it a mission center for the needs of the infirm and
aged; while the ignorant and careless, who would not enter a church, were
often induced to attend meetings here.
The training-school had been started at Barnet for the purpose of
training foreign missionaries; but Mr. Pennefather now saw that there was
as great a demand for home mission workers in the sorrowful and
benighted portions of the vast metropolis, so, after much deliberation and
consultation between himself and his wife, he decided to initiate the
ministry of Christian women as deaconesses. He hesitated about the name
to be given to the women whom he employed as Christian workers, but no
other was suggested conveying the same idea of service to Christ among
his suffering and needy ones, and, as the appellation had already won
respect through the good reports of the deaconess houses on the Continent,
he decided to adopt the same name. They continued to work in his parish
only until the terrible visitation of the cholera in 1866. Then when men
were swept into eternity by hundreds, and hundreds more were in dire
distress, the deaconesses were invited by the minister of another parish to
come to his assistance. In this way the bounds of the work began to
enlarge. A small hospital was added to the home and a medical-school
mission was begun.
It now became necessary to build a large hall; the iron room was too
small for the conferences, the church too small for the congregation, and
the missions had outgrown the capacity of the mission room. When the
plan for a new building was made known money came in unsolicited from
various sources. The undertaking was pushed rapidly forward, and in
October, 1870, the hall was opened. It will seat 2,500 people, having a
platform at the west end, and a gallery running around the sides and east
end.
Thanksgiving and prayer were built into the walls from the very
foundation; and before the basement rooms were cleared of rubbish, or the
floor laid, a prayer-meeting was held to ask for a blessing upon the future
undertakings of the mission. The basement was divided into five rooms, to
be used for night-schools and other agencies for the benefit of the poor.
Adjoining the hall, at the west end, was built the deaconess house.
From his home near by Mr. Pennefather had watched the completion of
the work with great interest. In one of his letters he says:4 “Sometimes I

can scarcely believe that it is a reality, and not all a dream—the
Conference Hall, with its appendages, and the deaconess house actually in
existence. May the Holy Spirit fill the place, and may he make it a center
from whence the living waters shall flow forth.”
From a letter written to one of these deaconesses, we gain his opinion
as to the need of deaconesses, and what was his ideal of a Home.5 “The
need for such an institution is great indeed. I do not suppose there was
ever a time in the history of Christianity in which the openings for holy,
disciplined, intelligent women to labor in God’s vineyard were so
numerous as at present. The population in towns and rural districts are
waiting for the patient and enduring love that dwells in the breast of a truly
pious woman, to wake them up to thought and feeling. O! if I had the
women and had the means, how gladly would I send out hundreds, two by
two, to carry the river of truth into the hamlets of our country, and the
streets and lanes of our great cities. Will you pray for the Home? Ask for
women and for means. I want our Home to be such a place of holy,
peaceful memories that, when you leave it, it may be among the brightest
things that come to your mind in a distant land, or in a different position;
and each inmate can help to make it what it should be.” But Mr.
Pennefather did not live to see the great extension in usefulness and
importance that the Deaconess Home was to obtain in later years. He
passed away from life April 28, 1873, leaving to his wife, who had ever
been his sympathetic and devoted helper, the care of continuing the work
he had begun. She is still the head of the Mildmay Institutions, assisted by
a resident superintendent, and aided by the counsels of wise, experienced
men, who form the board of trustees.
From the beginning of the erection of the new building every portion
of it was put to use. In one of the basement rooms is the invalid kitchen,
where, daily, puddings, jellies, and little delicacies are prepared and sent
out to sufferers in the neighborhood, who could not otherwise obtain
suitable nourishment. From eleven to two o’clock tickets are brought in,
which have been distributed by the sisters or by the district visitors; and
those who come to take the dinners, while waiting their turn, have a kind
word, or sympathetic inquiry about the sick one, from the deaconess in
charge.
A flower mission occupies another room. Kind friends send here
treasures from the garden and green-house, field and wood, and children

contribute bouquets of wild flowers. A deaconess superintends the willing
hands that tie the bunches, each of which is adorned with a brightly
colored Scripture text. Ten hospitals and infirmaries were regularly visited
during 1888; and more than thirty-eight thousand bunches of flowers were
distributed, each accompanied by an appropriate text.
Near at hand is the Dorcas room, where deaconesses are kept busy in
cutting out clothing and superintending the sewing classes. During the
winter of 1887 thirty widows attended this class three times a week, glad
to earn a sixpence by needlework done in a warm, lighted room, while a
deaconess entertained them by reading aloud. A large amount of sewing is
given out from the same room, and the garments that are made are often
sold to the poor at a low price. A most impressive scene is witnessed
during the winter months, when, on three evenings of the week, all the
basement rooms are crowded with the men’s night-school, which has, it is
believed, no rival in England. The ordinary number of names on the books
exceeds twelve hundred. There are forty-nine classes, all taught by ladies,
the majority of them being deaconesses. The subjects range from the
elementary to the higher branches of general and practical knowledge,
including arithmetic, geography, geometry, freehand drawing, and short-
hand. The Bible is read in the classes on Monday and Friday, and a
scriptural address is given by some gentleman on Wednesday. The school
always closes with prayer and singing. The men may purchase coffee and
bread and butter before leaving, and of this they largely avail themselves.
A lending library is also attached to the school. The highest attendance
during last session was five hundred and eighty-one, the lowest two
hundred and eighty-seven.
The influence of this school is very great, and many pass on from it to
the men’s Bible-class, which is held on Sunday afternoons in the largest
basement room.6
A servants’ registry is attached to the deaconess house, and through its
means about four hundred servants are annually provided with places.
Nearly fifty deaconesses make their home at this central house, many
of them having work in the different parts of the city, perhaps at remote
distances, but returning at night to the home-like surroundings and purer
air of the central house. The large sitting-room, the common living-room
of the deaconesses, is a charming place. It is of great size, but made
cheerful and attractive by pictures, flowers, and bright and tasteful

decorations that are restful to the eyes. Both Mr. and Mrs. Pennefather
made it a principle of action to have the home life cheerful, pleasant, and
attractive, so that when the sisters come in toward evening, tired
physically, and mentally depressed and exhausted by the long strain of
hearing tales of misery, and seeing sights of wretchedness and squalor the
day through, they could be cheered not only by the words of sympathy and
love of their associates, but by the silent, restful influences of their
surroundings.
As I looked around the great room with deep-set windows, brightened
by flowers, and still more by the happy faces of the deaconesses, some of
whom were young girls with the charms of happy girlhood set off by the
plain, black dress and wide white collar of the deaconess garb, I could but
think the founders wise in arranging such pleasant, home-like
surroundings for their workers.
From the windows you look down into a beautiful garden, a rare
luxury for a London dwelling. This garden was among the later accessions
of Mr. Pennefather, being purchased by him shortly before his death. A
train of circumstances led to its possession which he regarded as markedly
providential; and the delightful uses to which “that blessed garden,” as it
has been called, has since been put, seem to justify the importance he
attached to securing it. During the conference times great tents are reared
here for the refreshments which the weary body needs. A fine old
mulberry tree extends its branches, and under its ample shade meetings of
one kind or another are held at all hours of the day. The lawn, with its
quiet, shady walks, furnished with comfortable garden seats, provides a
meeting place for friends, where, in the intervals between the services,
those who perhaps never see each other during any of the other fifty-one
weeks of the year may walk or sit together. “Here in more ordinary times
may be seen the children of the Orphanage (where thirty-six girls form a
happy, busy family) playing together, or the deaconesses in their becoming
little white caps, who have run out for a breath of air. Here, too, during the
summer, a succession of tea-parties is held for the different classes which
have been reached by the deaconesses in the more densely populated parts
of London, to whom the garden is a very paradise.”7
Before leaving the Central Deaconess Home I must speak of one
branch of work—the artistic illustration of Scripture texts—because it so
illustrates the happy freedom and wisdom of the Mildmay methods, which

seek to develop the strength of each sister in the line of her special
aptitudes. Two of the deaconesses have marked ability as artists, and they
devote their time to illuminating texts and adorning Christmas and Easter
cards with rare and exquisite designs. From the sale of these illuminations
over five thousand dollars were realized last year for the benefit of the
institution.
The Conference Hall, too, should have a further word of
recommendation for the truly catholic spirit in which it serves the interests
of a myriad of good causes. Besides the crowded meetings of the
conference there are held Sunday services throughout the year. The
hospitality of its rooms is readily granted to every good cause with which
the mission has sympathy. During 1887 “temperance society meetings,
railway men and their wives, Moravian missions, Pastor Bost’s mission at
La Force, the MacAll Paris missions, the Sunday closing movement,
young men’s and young women’s Christian associations, a Christian police
association, the Children’s Special Service mission, the Christmas Letter
mission, Bible readings for German residents, and various other foreign
and home missions have all in turn been advocated here.”8
The larger number of the deaconesses at the central house, as well as
the twenty-five at the branch house in South London, are employed in
twenty-one London parishes, where their work has been sought by the
clergymen; they go to all, undertaking every kind of labor that can give
them access to the hearts and homes of the people. While co-operating
with the clergyman in charge of a parish their work is superintended from
the Deaconess Home. They visit from house to house among the sick and
poor, hold mothers’ meetings, teach night-schools, hold Bible-classes
separately for men, women, and children; hold special classes for working
women and girls who are kept busily employed during the day, and during
the winter months have a weekly average of more than nine thousand
attendants on their services. They are solving the problem of “how to save
the masses” by resolving the masses into individuals, and then influencing
these individuals by the power of personal effort and love.
But a few steps from Conference Hall is the Nursing Home, where
about one hundred “nurse sisters,” nurses, and probationers make their
home in the intervals between their duties, and are presided over by a lady
superintendent of their own. Adjoining is the Cottage Hospital, a beautiful
building, the gift of a lady in memory of her son. The walls have been

painted and decorated throughout by some ladies who delight in using
their skill to make beautiful the homes of the sick.
A large hospital and medical mission also exist in Bethnal Green, a
densely populated part of London that in some portions can vie with the
worst slums of the city. It was so necessary to provide better
accommodations for nursing the sufferers than could be found in their
poor homes that a warehouse was fitted up with beds and transformed into
a small hospital. In 1887 four hundred and thirteen patients were received
at the hospital, and in the dispensary for outside patients sixteen thousand
four hundred and eighteen visits were paid during the year, nearly two
thirds of which number were to patients in their own houses. There is no
place in which a hospital could be more sorely needed than in this
destitute part of London, and perhaps no place where it could be more
appreciated. “I had no idea,” said a man of the better class who was
brought in, “of there being such a place as this; you give as much attention
to the poorest man you get out of the street as could be given to a prince.”9
Every Christmas some kind of an entertainment is arranged for the
hospital patients, and, through the gift of friends, articles of warm clothing
are distributed to protect against the winter’s cold.
A variety of mission work is carried on in connection with Bethnal
Green. There is a Men’s Institute, open every evening except Sunday and
Monday, in connection with which is a savings’ bank that is well
patronized. There is a Lads’ Institute, where the deaconesses have classes
and meet the boys in a friendly way; a men’s lodging-house, where a
comfortable bed and shelter can be had for eight cents a night. The latter is
an enterprise which could be imitated with profit in all our large American
cities, where it is very difficult for the homeless and poverty-stricken to
obtain a decent lodging, or to find any place, in fact, where liquor is not
sold. There are also evangelistic services in the mission here, Sunday-
schools, Bible-classes, temperance meetings, a soup kitchen, and a coffee
bar, where, during Christmas week, between four and five hundred men
and boys were given light refreshments, and at the same time some idea of
the kindliness and good-will that are associated with this happy season of
the year.
There are also two convalescent homes, one at Barnet and one at
Brighton. The home at Brighton is especially designed for the poor
patients of the East End mission. The report for the year ending December

31, 1887, says that five hundred and fifty men, women, and children
enjoyed its benefits for a fortnight or longer.10
Mildmay nurse deaconesses have also charge of the Doncaster General
Infirmary, the Nurses’ Institute at Malta, and the Medical Mission Hospital
at Jaffa, where two hundred and nineteen patients were received the last
year, of whom one hundred and seventy-five were Moslems.
There also exists under the supervision of Mildmay workers a railway
mission that was begun in 1880 for men on duty at two of the London
stations. An organized mission has sprung up from this small beginning
that has now extended over three great lines of railroads which employ
thousands of men.
The long list of labors given do not exhaust the efforts of Mildmay
workers, for, besides special teas for policemen and postmen, and the
mission room and day-school at Ball’s Pond, there is also an educational
branch that is meeting the demand for higher educational advantages for
women, under distinctly religious influences, by the Clapton House
School.
The questions involuntarily present themselves, when reading the
undertakings just enumerated, that involve not only faithfulness and
devotion in service, but disciplined, practiced faculties, “What class of
women are these by whom so much has been accomplished? And what is
the training that has made them so effective?” It is difficult to answer the
first question. The deaconesses are of all classes, many of them being
ladies who devote their time, talent, and means to forward the cause. There
are a good many daughters of clergymen, who are carrying out the
associations of their life at home. Just how many are self-supporting and
just how many are maintained by the Institution are facts that are never
known; as Mrs. Pennefather says in a letter of February 11, 1889, “There
are certain points we deal with as strictly private. While every probationer
pays four guineas for her first month, the after monetary arrangements are
never known except to myself and the resident lady superintendent.”
The second question is more
easy of response. There is a Note.—There is a further department at
Mildmay that has never been named, but is
probation house, where ladies that certainly an important and busy one; it
present themselves as candidates might be called the “Department of Inquiry,”
for certainly the personal visits and letters
are received for a month, and are received, inquiring into the details of the
given work in teaching orphan institution, must be very large. My

children, or go out to the city obligations to Mrs. Pennefather are great,
who, both by letter and printed matter, has
missions and the night-schools placed a great number of facts at my
under the care of a deaconess. If the disposal, of which I have availed myself
probation has proved satisfactory freely in writing this sketch. Mrs.
Pennefather’s words, “we are glad when we
the candidate enters the training- can help any Christian work with the
school called “the Willows,” a mile experience God has permitted us to gather,”
or two from the Central House, a echo the words of the great apostle, “Let
him that is taught in the word communicate
pleasant home which about three to him that teacheth in all good things.” I
years ago came into the possession remember, too, the gracious patience with
which, during one of the crowded days of
of the institution and the inmates of the last conference, Miss Coventry, the
the school, formerly accommodated superintendent, spent a long hour with us,
in five small houses, are now answering fully and minutely the many
questions which we put when trying to
gathered, at slightly greater supplement our want of knowledge by her
expense, under one roof in the long experience. Indeed, the spirit of
larger, pleasanter home. The Mildmay impressed me as generous and
helpful; as has been said, “Over the whole
following extracts, taken from a house rules the spirit of love, devotion, and
little circular called “A Missionary prayer.”*
Training-school,” will give us a
good idea of the life of the embryo * “Deaconess Work in England,” The Churchman,
May 12, 1888.
deaconesses, and the instruction,
practical and theoretical, that they
receive. “The house, which lies a little back from the road, is entered
through a conservatory passage, and on the other side of the spacious hall,
with its illuminated motto, ‘Peace be to this house,’ above the fireplace,
are the lady superintendent’s sitting-room and the large dining-room,
where, on the day when I visited ‘the Willows,’ about thirty of us sat down
to dinner. Several others were absent in connection with their medical
studies. Both these rooms open on a terrace, and beyond stretches a garden
which, even in lifeless winter-time, looked inviting, and, in its spring
beauty and summer loveliness, must be in itself a training for the young
natures which are learning in the slums of Bethnal Green and Hoxton their
hard acquaintance with sin and sorrow. Perhaps in these days of strain and
toil too little has been thought of the need of young hearts for some gentle
relief from the first shock of meeting with the evil with which older
workers have a mournful familiarity.”
The inmates of the Training-school are not deaconesses alone. The
school was started to prepare workers for the foreign field, but the crying

need of the vast metropolis turned attention to the home field. The Church
of England Zenana Society sends its candidates to Mrs. Pennefather for
training, and she is glad to accept them, believing that a variety of
companionship is needed by those who, in zeal for their personal work,
might lose the broad sympathy for all kinds of Christian labor, which is an
invaluable cultivation for wise and useful laborers.
The several classes who pass through the course of training may be
designated as follows:
a.) Those who pass on to the deaconess house.
b.) Candidates for (1) the Church of England Zenana Society; (2) the
Church Missionary Society.
c.) Those who receive medical training for working among the women
and children of India.
d.) Those who are as yet unconnected with any society.
e.) When vacancies occur some few are received who merely return to
home or parish work, but who are greatly benefitted by training and
experience.
“The general routine of life seems to be as follows: Prayers at eight
o’clock, then breakfast, followed by a certain amount of domestic duty
which falls to the lot of each. For it is not forgotten that these years of
training are not for the sake of home life, but as preparation for the self-
denials of missionary life. Speaking broadly, the mornings seem to be
chiefly devoted to classes; afternoons to out of door and district work; and
thus theory and practice pleasantly relieve and support each other.”
There are regular Bible-classes held by different clergymen, and once
a fortnight there are lectures on the history of missionary work. There are
classes in Hindustani, drawing, and singing, and for those whose
education is defective, elementary classes in arithmetic, geometry, and
short-hand. The probationers are also given training in the duties of the
store-room, and the order and method that they are taught in caring for the
minutest details must certainly form valuable habits in all those who have
any desire to profit by the instruction they receive.
For those who are destined for medical work among the women of
India there is a special course of medical training, both theoretical and
practical.

The age requirement is not so strictly maintained at Mildmay as at
many other deaconess houses, but, as a rule, ladies from about twenty to
thirty years of age are preferred as students in the training-school. The sum
of three hundred dollars is charged for the year’s expenses at the training-
school, medical students paying one hundred dollars additional.
Our study of the Mildmay Institutions has been somewhat extensive.
As was said at the beginning of the chapter, the great freedom and
simplicity of the Mildmay methods, as well as the happy faculty that its
directors possess of utilizing all varieties of individual talent, make this
deaconess establishment one that is full of valuable suggestions to the
similar institutions that are now arising in American Methodism. No
working force is wasted; if a deaconess possess a special talent, she is
given a field in which to exercise it; and if exceptional conditions arise
workers are found ready to meet them. This training provides well-
equipped missionaries for the foreign field, and equally well-prepared
missionaries for the great field of the present hour—the home mission
work in the crowded wards of great cities.
The annual expenses of the Mildmay Institutions vary from one
hundred and ten thousand to one hundred and twenty thousand dollars.
Sixty thousand dollars are received in voluntary contributions, and the
remaining sum is generally obtained from friends who are immediately
concerned in the work.
It is certainly a marvelous tribute to Christian faith, although it is never
heralded as such, that an establishment of the extent and magnitude of
Mildmay has been maintained for years with no permanent endowment to
fall back upon, and that annually the renewed self-denial of constant
friends has to supply the large amount of money needed to meet the entire
expenses. Besides those outward and visible services which it renders “for
the love of Christ, and in his name” Mildmay furnishes a constant
testimony to the fidelity of the Christian faith in the hearts of many
believers.

1 Life and Letters of the Rev. W. Pennefather, p. 279.
2 Ibid., p. 305.
3 Life and Letters of the Rev. W. Pennefather, p. 435.
4 Life and Letters of the Rev. W. Pennefather, p. 471.
5 Life and Letters of the Rev. W. Pennefather, p. 471.
6 Mildmay Deaconesses and their Work, p. 7.

7 Mildmay Deaconesses and their Work, p. 6.
8 A Retrospect of Mildmay Work During the Year 1887.
9 Mildmay Deaconesses and their Work, p. 13.
10 A Light in a Dark Place, p. 21.

CHAPTER XII.

DEACONESSES IN SCOTLAND.

When Fliedner went on his second tour to England he extended his
journey to Scotland, and ventured to Edinburgh at a time when the cholera
was sweeping with fearful ravages through the city in order to become
acquainted with Dr. Chalmers. The great Scotch divine and his good
deeds, that were connected with all kinds of charitable endeavor, moved
the German pastor to admiration and stirred him to holy emulation. On the
other hand, that Chalmers was profoundly touched by the work that
Fliedner had accomplished in Germany there can be no doubt; we have his
own words to testify to the importance he attached to the diaconate of
women. In his lectures on Romans, he says: “Here, too, we are presented
with a most useful indication, the employment of female agency, under the
eye and with the sanction of an apostle, in the business of the Church. It is
well to have inspired authority for a practice too little known, and too little
preached on in modern times. Phebe belonged to the order of deaconesses,
in which capacity she had been the helper of many, including Paul himself.
In what respect she served them is not particularly specified. Like the
women in the gospels who waited on our Saviour, she may have
ministered to them of her substance, though there can be little doubt that,
as the holder of an official station in the Church, she ministered to them by
her services also.” It is but recently, however, that deaconesses have
become incorporated into the religious life of Scotland, and, so far, they do
not exist in connection with the Free Church, of which Chalmers was the
able and heroic leader, but only in connection with the national Church—
the old historic Church of Scotland. Within this Church the question has
assumed the form, not alone of the revival of the apostolic order of
deaconesses, but also of the organization of all the manifold activities of
women within the Church into one whole, which is put under the authority
and direction of the officers of the Church.

Isolated attempts in this direction had previously been made, but in
1885 the first definite steps were taken when the Committee on Christian
Life and Work, of which Dr. Charteris was the Convener, presented to the
General Assembly a report on “The need of an organization of women’s
work in the Church,” part of which is as follows: “The organization of
women’s work in the Church has become a subject of pressing interest.
The Assembly has already sanctioned and regulated the organization of
women’s work in collecting for foreign missions, and in sending out and
superintending missionaries. The great and growing strength of the
movement thus recognized is one of the most gratifying things in our
mission; ... but of still older date, and not less powerful, is the part taken
by women in the home work of the parish church. Lady visitors are
carrying messages of divine truth and of human sympathy into the
dwellings of the poor both in town and country. Many have been trained as
nurses that they may be skilled ministrants to the suffering and sick; and
there can be little doubt that the greater part of the actual personal help
which ministers receive in parishes is from the women of the
congregations. But those who have done most of the good work are most
instant in asking from the Church some means of doing still more. From
ministers and from their female helpers have come many requests to the
committee for some provision for training; some recognition and
organization of those who are trained…. In the Church of England are
many homes for nurses and deaconesses; training institutions for female
mission work of every kind; and the rapidity with which they are
multiplying proves of itself how much they are needed; also non-
conformist institutions of the kind, and some separate from all Churches.
Your committee believe that the time has fully come for our Church’s
taking steps to supply her own wants in this important department of
mission work.”1
The General Assembly then directed the committee to inquire into the
subject of women’s work in the Church, and to bring up a definite report
to the next assembly. The committee accepted the task, sent out requests to
every parish for suggestions as to the forms of Christian work to be carried
on by women, and the best means of making preparation for their special
training, and prepared themselves by personal inspection of the leading
institutions for training women workers in England to be able to answer
intelligently the same questions. A scheme was reported in 1886 which

should incorporate all existing parish organizations, such as Sabbath-
school teachers’ and women’s societies of all kinds, and should aim at
increasing their number and working power. In 1887 regulations were
perfected for working this scheme, and the approval of this by the
Assembly of 1887 made the new plan a part of the organized work of the
Church.
The comprehensive character of the new departure in the Church of
Scotland is plainly seen from a view of the organization as it now exists.
The three grades into which the Christian women workers are divided
embrace every kind of work done in connection with the Church. The first
grade is general in its character, and forms an association called the
Women’s Guild. In each parish the members of Bible-classes, of Young
Women’s Congregational Associations, of mission working parties, of
Dorcas societies, as well as tract distributers, Sabbath-school teachers,
members of the Church choir, and any who are engaged in the service of
Christ in the Church are all to be accepted as members of the guild. The
next higher grade is the Women Workers’ Guild, for which a certain age is
required, and an experience of at least three years, with the approval of the
kirk session which enrolls them. In connection with this guild are
associates, who have a similar relation to the members of the Women
Workers’ Guild that the associates have to deaconesses in the English
deaconess houses. They are not pledged to regular or constant service, but
engage to do some work or contribute some money every year. They can
go to the deaconess house, put on the garb of the deaconess while there,
and as long as they remain can assume the responsibilities and enjoy the
privileges belonging to deaconesses. The third higher grade is that of the
deaconesses. Any one desiring to become a deaconess “must purpose to
devote herself, so long as she shall occupy the position of a deaconess,
especially to Christian work in connection with the Church, as the chief
object of her life.”2 Provision was also made for a training-school and
home where deaconesses could be prepared for their duties.
There are a great many ladies who for a long time have been engaged
in doing the practical work of a deaconess without being clothed in the
garb, or invested with the office. The Church of Scotland recognized these
workers by providing two classes of deaconesses, who should be equal in
position, but have different spheres of activity. Those who for seven years
had been known as active workers, and who have given their lives largely

to Christian service, are accepted as deaconesses of the first class, and are
free to work wherever they find themselves most useful within the limits
of the Church. The second class embraces those who shall have received
training in the deaconess institution, or have been in connection with it for
at least two years.
When the measure was finally passed by the General Assembly there
was no delay in carrying into execution the details indicated by the plan of
work. The Deaconess Institution and Training Home was at once started. It
was located at Edinburgh, as the most central and convenient place for the
institution, and as furnishing the most available advantages for the
instruction and training of the deaconesses. From here as a center the work
is expected to penetrate into every part of Scotland by means of the trained
workers whose services will be available for all parts of the country when
desired by the ministers and kirk sessions. With true Scotch prudence and
wisdom it was arranged that the lady who was chosen to be the
superintendent should fit herself thoroughly for the duties of her
responsible place by becoming familiar with the workings of similar
institutions in England. She was accordingly given six months’ leave of
absence, which she spent among the great London Homes, and only
assumed the duties of her position May 1, 1888. Meanwhile the Home had
opened under the temporary care of a lady who had been a worker in Mrs.
Meredith’s Prison Mission, and for six years a Mildmay deaconess. It had
from the beginning the warm co-operation of sympathizing, influential
friends. Regular courses of lectures were arranged on subjects connected
with Christian work, and as similar courses will be demanded of like
institutions in America it may be interesting to give the syllabus in full:

SYLLABUS OF LECTURES.
(On Tuesdays at 12.)
1. B.—Professor Charteris. Four Lectures.
“How to Begin a Mission.”
Nov. 29.—1. Whom to visit, and why. The ills we know of, bodily, spiritual, social; and seek to
lessen.
Dec. 6.—2. How to induce the people who belong to no church—perhaps care for none—to come
in.
Dec. 13.—3. What to do with the children; (a) to attract, (b) to influence them.
Dec. 20.—4. What agencies besides Sunday services prove best.

2. C.—Dr. P. A. Young. Six Lectures.
“Medical Hygiene for the Use of Visitors.”
Jan. 3.—1. Object and scope of the course of lectures; short sketch of the structure and functions
of the human body, including a brief description of the functions of digestion, absorption,
circulation, respiration, excretion, secretion, and enervation.
Jan. 10.—2. Fractures, how to recognize and treat them temporarily; bleeding, and how to treat it;
the use of the triangular bandage.
Jan. 17.—3. Treatment of fainting, choking, burns and scalds, bites from animals, bruises and tears
from machinery, convulsions, sunstroke, persons found insensible, suspected poisoning and
frostbite; how to lift and carry an injured person.
Jan. 24.—4. Sick-room, its selection, preparation, cleaning, warming, ventilation, and furnishing,
bed and bedding, infection and disinfection.
Jan. 31.—5. Washing and dressing patients, bed-making, changing sheets, lifting helpless patients,
food administration, medicines and stimulants, what to observe regarding a sick person.
Feb. 7.—6. Taking temperature, baths, bedsores, nursing sick children, application of local
remedies, poultices, fomentations, blisters, etc.; management of convalescents.

3. D.—Rev. George Wilson. Four Lectures.
“Difficulties Encountered by District Visitors.”
Feb. 14.—1. Difficulties proceeding from indifference.
Feb. 21.—2. Difficulties proceeding from ignorance.
Feb. 28.—3. Difficulties proceeding from adversity.
Mar. 6.—4. Difficulties proceeding from anxiety.
Note.—Questions invited from the ladies.

4. E.—Rev. Dr. Norman Macleod. Four Lectures.
“Some Qualifications of a Church Worker, especially among the Poor.”
March 13.—1. Motives and aims.
March 20.—2. Difficulties and hindrances, how to overcome them.
March 27.—3. Conditions of success.
April 3.—4. Helps, agencies, etc.

5. F.—Rev. John McMurtrie. Two Lectures.
“History and Methods of Missions to the Heathen.”
April 10.—1. History of missions.
April 17.—2. Methods of missions.

Another wise provision in this Scotch home is the arrangement by
which those who do not wish to become deaconesses, but who want to
become competent Christian workers in their own homes, can come here
and spend some months in receiving training and instruction in various

methods of Christian work. There is no department in life in which many
blunders and much loss of time and usefulness cannot be prevented by
making use of the experience of others who have previously overcome the
difficulties to be encountered. In other words, we need to obtain all the
preparation and discipline we can possibly have in order to do our work
well; and especially is this true of Christian work, which demands the
highest service that the heart and soul of humanity can give. Many
individuals will come to the home to be trained and fitted to work in their
own homes, and will start new lines of Christian activity that will win the
sympathies and efforts of many who are eager to be employed in good
works, if only they can have competent direction.
A pamphlet entitled The Deaconess Institution and Training Home
says: “Are there not many parts all over Scotland—mines, quarries, etc.—
where the population is poor and hard-working? Would it not in such
places be an advantage both to minister and people to have a Christian
lady, trained, experienced, and devoted, to live and work among them? Or,
which would be possible in every parish, would it not be a great advantage
that in case of need—in a mining accident, an outbreak of sickness—a
trained Christian nurse should be available during the emergency?”
The General Assembly provided that deaconesses should be solemnly
inducted into their office at a religious service in church. It also provided
“that along with the application for the admission of any person to the
office of a deaconess there shall be submitted a certificate from a
committee of the General Assembly intrusted with that duty stating that
the candidate is qualified in respect of education, and that she has had
seven years’ experience in Christian work, or two years’ training in the
Deaconess Institution and Training Home.” Also, “Before granting the
application, the kirk session shall intimate to the presbytery their intention
of doing so, unless objection be offered by the presbytery at its first
meeting thereafter.” On Sunday, December 9, 1888, the first deaconess
was set apart to her duties. The kirk session was already in possession of
the necessary certificates testifying to her “character, education,
experience, devotedness, and power to serve and co-operate with others.”
Due intimation had been made to the presbytery. The questions were put
that were appointed by the General Assembly:
“Do you desire to be set apart as a deaconess, and as such to serve the
Lord Jesus Christ in the Church, which is his body?

“Do you promise, as a deaconess of the Church of Scotland, to work in
connection with that Church, subject to its courts, and in particular to the
kirk session of the parish in which you work?
“Do you humbly engage, in the strength and grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, our Lord and Master, faithfully and prayerfully to discharge the
duties of this office?”
The lady who, by answering the above questions, received the sanction
of the Church as one of its appointed officers was Lady Grisell Baillie, of
Dryburgh Abbey. She writes to the author of this book: “I count it a great
honor to be permitted to serve in the Church of my fathers, and I pray that
I may be enabled faithfully and prayerfully to fulfill the duties to which I
am called, and that it maybe for the glory of our God and Saviour that I
am permitted to work in his vineyard.”
Miss Davidson, who was temporary superintendent of the home, but
who is now engaged in organizing branches of the Women’s Guild
throughout Scotland, and Miss Alice Maud Maxwell, the present
superintendent of the home, have also been set apart to the same office. As
has been said, “Each represents an old Scottish family, whose members
have been distinguished for Christian and philanthropic labors;” and “each
represents a different type of deaconess work.” Lady Grisell Baillie is
engaged in gentle ministrations among the people of her own home. Miss
Davidson is at the service of every minister who desires aid in organizing
women’s work in his parish. And Miss Maxwell is at the training-home,
leading a busy life in directing the class labors and missionary activities
that center around it and in impressing her life and spirit upon a band of
workers who are to further Christ’s cause both at home and in the mission
field.
The mention of any facts that can bring before us the varied character
that the deaconess work can assume is valuable. For to be truly useful, this
cause needs to provide a place for women of very unlike qualities, and
also to allow a certain degree of freedom which will insure the
individuality of each worker.
The action of the Church of Scotland has had its influence upon the
Reformed Churches throughout the world holding the presbyterial system.
At the session of the London Council of the Alliance of Reformed and
Presbyterian Churches during the summer of 1888, Dr. Charteris presented
a report embracing many of the features of the elaborate scheme which he

had previously devised for the Church of Scotland. And the Council, in
receiving the report, not only approved it, but “commended the details of
the scheme stated in the report to the consideration of the churches
represented in the Alliance.” We may regard the Presbyterian churches of
Great Britain, therefore, as committed, not only to the indorsement of
deaconesses as officers in the service of the Church, but to the
organization of the whole work of women in the churches, under
ecclesiastical authority and direction.
There is one feature of the deaconess cause as it has been developed in
the Church of Scotland that is of especial interest to the Methodists of
America. Most of the great deaconess houses of England have sprung
from the personal faith and works of earnest-souled individuals. Mildmay,
for example, is a living testimony to the faithfulness and energy of the
Rev. Mr. Pennefather and those associated with him. Within the Church of
England the recognition accorded deaconesses is a partial one, resting on
the principles and rules signed by the archbishops and eighteen bishops,
and suggested for adoption in 1871. But as yet the English Church has not
formally accepted this utterance, and made it authoritative. The German
deaconess houses, while receiving the practical indorsement of the State
Church of Germany, are not in any way officially connected with it. Even
Kaiserswerth itself is solely responsible to those who contribute to its
support for a right use of the means placed at its command. The same fact
applies to the Paris deaconess houses. They are all detached efforts, not
parts of a general system. But the Scotch deaconesses are responsible to a
church, and a church is responsible for their work. The Church of Scotland
is, therefore, justified in its claim when it says that the adoption of the
scheme of the organization of women’s work by the assembly of 1888, “is
the first attempt since the Reformation to make the organization of
women’s work a branch of the general organization of the Church, under
the control of her several judicatories.”3 The second attempt was made,
which was the first also for any Church in America, when, May 18, 1888,
the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States instituted the office
of deaconess, and made it an inherent part of the Church economy, under
the direction and control of the Annual Conferences.

1 Organization of Women’s Work in the Church of Scotland. Notes by A. H.
Charteris, D.D.; p. 4.
2 Report of Committee on Christian Life and Work, 1888, p. 36.
3 Nearly all of the facts, both printed and personal, concerning the deaconess
cause in Scotland have been furnished the writer through the kindness of Lady
Grisell Baillie, Dryburgh Abbey, Scotland.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE DEACONESS CAUSE IN AMERICA.

It was no part of the plan of this book, when first projected, to treat of
the deaconess cause as it is developing within the United States of
America, but gradually, through the kindness of many friends belonging to
different denominations, a number of facts have been obtained which bear
directly upon the question of how the example of European deaconess
houses has influenced and is influencing the Protestant Churches of
America; and it seems unwise to omit them from the consideration of the
subject.
Naturally the German Lutherans, who were well acquainted with the
deaconess work in their native land, were the first to try to introduce it
among their churches. In the yearly report sent out from Kaiserswerth,
January 1, 1847, Fliedner mentions that an urgent appeal had been made to
him to send deaconesses to an important city in the United States, there to
have the oversight of a hospital, and to found a mother-house for the
training of deaconesses. In the report for the following year Fliedner again
refers to the call from America, and states his intention to extend his
travels to the New World, and to take with him sisters who shall aid in
founding a mother-house. In the summer of 1849 he was enabled to carry
out his intention, and July 14, 1849, accompanied by four deaconesses, he
reached Pittsburg, Pa., where Rev. Dr. W. A. Passavant, who had written
so many urgent appeals for his aid, was awaiting him. The building had
already been secured for a hospital and deaconess home, and, July 17, was
solemnly dedicated at a service where Fliedner delivered the principal
address, and a large audience testified to their interest.
Before his return to Europe Fliedner visited the New York Synod, and,
in an English discourse, described the character and aims of Kaiserswerth,
and commended the newly founded institution at Pittsburg to the
sympathy and aid of the German Lutheran Church in America. No further
results were reached, as the synod contented itself with resolving that “this

Ministerium awaits with deep interest the result of the work made in
behalf of the institution of Protestant deaconesses at Pittsburg.”1
The institution is occasionally heard of afterward in the proceedings of
the Pittsburg Synod, and in the paper, The Missionary, published under the
auspices of the same Church. Urgent appeals were also sent out for
devoted Christian women to come to the aid of the sisters and to join their
numbers; but although the hospital, commended by their skillful and able
ministrations as nurses, had the full approval of the public, there were few,
if any, who came to join them, and they were unduly burdened by a task
too great for their small number.
In 1854 Dr. Passavant resigned his pastoral charge, and devoted his
entire time to the furtherance of the cause, but, up to the present, it has not
attained the complete organization and wide extension that its friends in
the German Lutheran Church have desired.
The institutions which owe their existence to Dr. Passavant’s efforts
are the infirmary at Pittsburg; the hospital and deaconess home in
Milwaukee; the hospital in Jacksonville, Ill.; the orphanages for girls in
Rochester and Mount Vernon, N. Y., and one for boys in Pennsylvania.
There is, at the present time, only one of the original Kaiserswerth
sisters left, and that is Sister Elizabeth, the head deaconess at Rochester.
Dr. Passavant still continues to labor at forming a complete organization
on the basis of the Kaiserswerth system, and, to quote the words of Dr. A.
Spaeth, “As he succeeded forty years ago in bringing the first sisters over
from Kaiserswerth to Pittsburg, I have no doubt that now, when the
Church is at last awakening to the importance of this work, he will
succeed in the completion of his undertaking.”
A more recent development of the deaconess work in the German
Lutheran Church has arisen in connection with the German hospital in
Philadelphia. The hospital was well equipped for its work, but there was
much dissatisfaction with the nursing, which was inefficient and
unskillful. In the fall of 1882 the hospital authorities turned for advice and
co-operation to Dr. W. J. Mann, Dr. A. Spaeth, and other clergymen of the
denomination in Philadelphia. It was determined to secure German
deaconesses as nurses. Several attempts were made to induce
Kaiserswerth, or some other large mother-house in Germany, to give up a
few sisters to the hospital, but on all sides the applications were refused.
The deaconesses were too greatly needed in the Old World to be spared for

work in the New. At length, through the unremitting efforts of Consul
Meyer, and of John D. Lankenau, president of the board of managers, a
small independent community of sisters under the direction of Marie
Krueger, who had herself been trained in Kaiserswerth, acceded to the
proposal, and the head-deaconess, with six sisters, arrived in Philadelphia
June 19, 1884. They left the field of their self-denying work in the hospital
and poor-house at Iserlohn, in Westphalia, sadly to the regret of the
authorities and citizens of the place, but to the hospital at Philadelphia
they gave invaluable aid. From the first their good services met with
appreciation. The efficiency of the hospital service was greatly increased;
and from physicians and hospital authorities there was only one testimony,
and that a most favorable one, to the value of deaconesses as trained
nurses. Mr. Lankenau, who has ever been the wise and munificent patron
of the institution, determined to insure a succession of these admirable
nurses for the service of the hospital, and, at an expense of over five
hundred thousand dollars, he built an edifice of palace-like proportions,
and made over this munificent gift to the hospital corporation. It was
accepted by them January 10, 1887. The western wing of the building is
used as a home for aged men and women; the eastern wing is a residence
and training-school for the deaconesses, the chapel uniting the two, and
the whole being known as the Mary J. Drexel Home and Philadelphia
Mother-house of Deaconesses.
A visit to the Home convinced me that the regulations of the house, the
work of the sisters, and the devotion to duty that characterize the mother-
houses in Germany rule also in this home in the New World. The imposing
entrance hall with the great stair-way, the floor and stairs of white marble,
the wide halls and spacious reception-rooms and offices seemed at first
almost incongruous surroundings for the modest active deaconesses, some
of whom were busy in the hospital wards, others hanging clothes on the
line, and others occupied in duties within the building. But place and
environments are only incidental matters; the spirit within is the
determining quality; and a conversation with the Oberin (head deaconess)
and the rector left me with the persuasion that the spirit of earnest
devotion to God and humanity is the main-spring of duty in this house.
The arrangement of the rooms for the sisters is similar to that at
Kaiserswerth; each consecrated sister has a small apartment simply
furnished for her own use. The older probationers are divided two and

three in a room. Those who have recently entered are placed in two large
rooms, but here every one has her own four walls—even if they are only
made by linen curtains. When Elizabeth Fry first visited Kaiserswerth,
among the arrangements that she at once recognized and commended was
that by which each deaconess was given the privacy of her own apartment.
In the deaconess houses that are so rapidly springing up in different parts
of the United States this provision ought to be guarded with care, for a life
that is so constantly drawn out in ministrations to others should have some
moments of absolute privacy upon which no one can intrude.
There are at present thirty-two deaconesses at the Philadelphia Mother-
house, twenty of whom are probationers. The house was admitted to the
Kaiserswerth Association, and will henceforth be represented at the
Conferences. The direction is vested in a rector and head deaconess,
neither of whom can be removed except on just cause of complaint. The
distinctive dress is black, with blue or white aprons, white caps and
collars. There is one addition to their garb which Fliedner would have
looked upon with disfavor, and that is a cross—worn by the sisters from
the time they are fully accepted as deaconesses.
The first consecration took place in the beautiful chapel of the Home,
January 13, 1889, when three deaconesses were accepted as members of
the order.
For those who desire to form a good conception of the deaconess
institutions as they are conducted in Germany, a visit to the Philadelphia
Mother-house of Deaconesses will be fruitful of valuable suggestions.2
In July, 1887, a Swedish Lutheran pastor in Omaha sent a probationer
to Philadelphia to be trained as a sister for a deaconess house to be
established in that central city of the United States. In 1888 four others
joined her, and the building of a hospital and deaconess home is now
progressing by the generous support of all classes of philanthropists in
Omaha. A deaconess home has also recently been founded by Norwegian
Lutherans in South Brooklyn, L. I.
In the German Reformed Church a layman endeavored in 1866 to
arouse interest in the deaconess office. The Hon. J. Dixon Roman, of
Hagerstown, Md., at Christmas gave five thousand dollars to the
congregation, and with it sent a proposition to the consistory that three
ladies of the congregation should be chosen and ordained to the order of
deaconesses, with absolute control of the income of said fund for the

purposes and duties as practiced in the early days of the Church.3 This,
and the action of the Lebanon Classis in 1867, requesting the synod “to
take into consideration the propriety of restoring the apostolic society of
deaconesses,” seem to have been the only steps taken by those connected
with this denomination.
In the Protestant Episcopal Church of America the bishop of Maryland
first instituted an order of deaconesses in connection with St. Andrew’s
Parish, Baltimore, Md. Two ladies gave themselves to ministering to the
poor, and, with the sanction and approval of the bishop, a house was
obtained and given the name of St. Andrew’s Infirmary. In 1873 there
were four resident deaconesses and four associates.4 An early report of the
infirmary says: “The deaconesses look to no organization of persons to
furnish the pecuniary aid required by the demands of their position. Their
first efforts have been for the destitute and sick. At the home they minister
daily to the suffering and destitute sick wherever found; some requiring
only temporary medical aid and nursing; others, whom God has chastened
with more continuous suffering, requiring, in their penury, constant care
and continual ministration.” There is also under their charge a church
school for vagrant children, and one also for the children of those
comfortably situated in life.
The “Forms for Setting Apart Deaconesses,” the “Rules for Self-
Examination,” and the “Rules of Discipline” in the order of deaconesses in
Maryland are largely patterned after the Kaiserswerth rules. In truth, the
general questions for self-examination in regard to external duties,
spiritual duties to the sick, the conduct of the deaconesses or sisters to
those whom they meet, and the means for improving in the duties of the
office are in many cases selected, and but slightly altered, from the series
prepared by Pastor Fliedner.5 The influence of the devout German pastor
is indelibly stamped upon the deaconess cause in whatever denomination
it has developed during the nineteenth century.
In 1864 the deaconesses of the Diocese of Alabama were organized by
Bishop Wilmer. Under the supervision of the bishop the three deaconesses
with whom the order originated were associated in taking charge of an
orphanage and boarding-school for girls. In 1873 there were five
deaconesses, one probationer, and two resident associates.6
In the Church Home all of the work is done by the inmates. As in the
foreign Homes, the deaconesses are provided with food and raiment, and

during sickness or old age they are cared for at the expense of the order.
They are forbidden to receive fee or compensation for their services. Any
remuneration that is made is paid to the order. In one feature, however, the
deaconesses of Alabama differ from either their German or English sisters,
and that is in the care of their individual means. The “Constitution and
Rules” says: “The private funds of deaconesses shall not be expended
without the approval of the chief deaconess or the bishop.”7 This usage
prevails in sisterhoods, but, outside of this instance, so far as the author
has been able to learn is not known in deaconess institutions.
The rules for the associates in connection with the order are given
somewhat at length, from which the following are taken. After defining an
associate as a Christian woman desiring to aid the work of the
deaconesses, and admonishing her that, although not bound by the rules of
the Community, yet she must be careful to lead such a life as is becoming
one associated in a work of religion and charity, she is requested “to state
what kind of work she will undertake, under the direction of the chief
deaconess, and to report the result to her at such intervals as may be
agreed upon.” The following modes of assistance are suggested as most
useful; namely, “to provide and make clothing for the poor; to collect
alms; to procure work, or promote its sale; to teach in the school; to assist
in music or other classes; to relieve the destitute; to minister to the sick; to
visit and instruct the ignorant; to attend the funeral arrangements for the
poor; and to take charge of or assist in the decoration of the church.”
The feature of the union of the associates with the deaconesses is one
whose importance can scarcely be exaggerated. There are many who
would be able to serve for a short time in this relation whose valuable aid
would be entirely lost if none but deaconesses who give all their time and
strength could work in the order.
In the Diocese of Long Island Bishop Littlejohn instituted an
association of deaconesses by publicly admitting six women to the office
of deaconess in St. Mary’s Church, Brooklyn, February 11, 1872. The
association has not continued in the form in which it originated, but has
now changed into the Sisterhood of St. John the Evangelist. Still this
sisterhood retains many of the distinctive deaconess features. A sister may,
for instance, withdraw from the sisterhood for proper cause. She labors
without remuneration, and the sisters live together in a home, or singly, as
they may please, in any place where their work is located.

In the Diocese of Western New York there are five deaconesses, with
their associates and helpers, under the direction of the bishop of the
diocese.
In America, however, as in England, within the Episcopal Church
sisterhoods are more influential and more rapid in their growth than are
deaconess institutions. In a list of the sisterhoods of the Episcopal Church
in America, given in the monthly magazine devoted to women’s work in
the Church,8 fourteen sisterhoods are named, one religious order of
widows, and two orders of deaconesses, one of which is that which is now
changed into the Sisterhood of St. John the Evangelist.
In 1871 the Board of Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church
discussed at some length the relation of women’s work to the Church, and
there resulted increased interest in the subject of sisterhoods and
deaconess institutions. An effort has been made to obtain for the order of
deaconesses a wider recognition than it now enjoys, as it simply has the
support of the bishop within whose diocese the deaconesses are at work.
To this end, in the General Convention of 1880, a canon was presented to
the House of Bishops, and accepted by a large vote. But it reached the
Lower House too late for consideration, and no further action has been
taken since that time.
In the Presbyterian Church of America the question of the revival of
the office of deaconess has already claimed some attention. The late Dr. A.
T. McGill for many successive years earnestly recommended the revival of
the office to the members of his classes in the theological seminary at
Princeton; and his views, matured by years of reflection, were given for
publication in an article published in the Presbyterian Review, 1880.
In the Minutes of the General Assembly for 1884, page 114, and of
1888, page 640, we find an overture asking if the education of deaconesses
is consistent with Presbyterian polity, and, if so, should they be ordained,
answered in the negative in the following words: “The Form of
Government declares that in all cases the persons elected [deacons] must
be male members. (Chap. 13. 2.) In all ages of the Church godly women
have been appointed to aid the officers of the Church in their labors,
especially for the relief of the poor and the infirm. They rendered
important service in the Apostolic Church, but they do not appear to have
occupied a separate office, to have been elected by the people, to have
been ordained or installed. There is nothing in our constitution, in the

practice of our Church, or in any present emergency, to justify the creation
of a new office.” The next year an explanation of this action, which so
obviously contradicts the facts of history, was asked, but the committee
declined to say any thing more.
The Southern Presbyterian Church has proceeded further, and in the
direction of the female diaconate, as it is characterized in its main features
wherever it has existed, when it declares in its Book of Church Order,
adopted in 1879, that “where it shall appear needful, the church session
may select and appoint godly women for the care of the sick, of prisoners,
of poor widows and orphans, and, in general, in the relief of the sick.”9
In isolated Presbyterian congregations deaconesses have already
obtained recognition. At the Pan-Presbyterian Council, held in
Philadelphia in 1880, Fritz Fliedner, the son of Dr. Theodor Fliedner, was
present as a member, and through the influence of his words the
Corinthian Avenue Presbyterian Church set apart five deaconesses, whose
duty it should be to care for the poor and sick belonging to the
congregation.
“More recently the Third Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles, Cal.,
empowered its three deacons to choose three women from the
congregation to co-operate with them in their work, granting them seats
and votes in the board’s monthly meeting.”10
The very interesting article from which the quotation has just been
made seems to think the term “deaconess” a misnomer for the
Kaiserswerth deaconess, as she belongs to a community, whereas the
deaconess of the early Church was attached to a congregation and
belonged to a single church as an officer; but it may well be questioned
whether the class of duties assigned to the deaconess of the early Church
and of modern times alike, that is, the nursing of the sick, the care of the
infirm in body and mind, the succoring of the unfortunate, and the
education of children, are not the main characteristics of the office of a
deaconess, while the fact of her connection with a number of like-minded
women in community life is merely an external feature of the office as it
has developed in the nineteenth century. Whatever form the question may
assume, with the Presbyterian churches of Scotland and England so far
committed to the adoption of the office of the deaconess as an effective
part of the organization of the Church, it seems inevitable that the

Presbyterian Church of America will have to meet this question in the near
future.
The Methodist Episcopal Church of America, although occupying
itself with the question of the diaconate of women later than any of the
denominations previously mentioned, by its acceptance of the office and
by making it an inherent part of its ecclesiastical organization has taken a
higher ground than any Protestant body, with the exception of the Church
of Scotland. The Methodist Episcopal Church has ever offered a freer
scope for the activities of its women members than any other body of
Christians save the Quakers, who are still the leaders in this respect; but it
may be questioned if any furnishes a larger number who are actively
engaged in promoting philanthropic and religious measures.
The honor of practically beginning the deaconess work in connection
with the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States belongs to Mrs.
Lucy Rider Meyer, of the Chicago Training-school, who, during the
summer months of 1887, aided by eight earnest Christian women, worked
among the poor, the sick, and the needy of that great city without any
reward of man’s giving. In the autumn the Home opened in a few hired
rooms, and Miss Thoburn came to be its first superintendent. The story of
the growth of the work, the securing of a permanent home, and the
enlargement of its resources is a most interesting one.11
The Rock River Conference, within whose boundaries the Chicago
Home is situated, had from the beginning an earnest sympathy and
confidence in the work as it was developing in its midst. A memorial was
prepared, and was presented to the General Conference in May, 1888, by
the Rock River Conference, through its Conference delegates, asking for
Church legislation with reference to deaconesses. At the same time the
Bengal Annual Conference, through Dr. J. M. Thoburn, also presented a
memorial asking for the institution of an order of deaconesses who should
have authority to administer the sacrament to the women of India. Our
missionaries in India have long felt the need of some way of ministering to
the converted women who are closely secluded in zenana life, and who,
though sick and dying, are precluded by the customs of the country from
any religious service of comfort or consolation that male missionaries can
render. If it had been possible for our women missionaries to administer
the sacrament many Indian women could have been received into the
Church. All of the papers and memorials on this subject were put into the

hands of a committee, of which Dr. J. M. Thoburn (afterward made
missionary bishop to India and Malaysia) was chairman; and the report of
the committee was as follows:

“THE NEW OFFICE OF DEACONESSES IN THE METHODIST
E P I S C O PA L C H U R C H .

“For some years past our people in Germany have employed this class
of workers with the most blessed results, and we rejoice to learn that a
successful beginning has recently been made in the same direction in this
country. A home for deaconesses has been established in Chicago, and
others of a similar character are proposed in other cities. There are also a
goodly number of similar workers in various places; women who are
deaconesses in all but name, and whose number might be largely increased
if a systematic effort were made to accomplish this result. Your committee
believes that God is in this movement, and that the Church should
recognize the fact and provide some simple plan for formally connecting
the work of these excellent women with the Church and directing their
labors to the best possible results. They therefore recommend the insertion
of the following paragraphs in the Discipline, immediately after ¶ 198,
relating to exhorters:
“DEACONESSES.

“1. The duties of the deaconesses are to minister to the poor, visit the
sick, pray with the dying, care for the orphan, seek the wandering, comfort
the sorrowing, save the sinning, and, relinquishing wholly all other
pursuits, devote themselves in a general way to such forms of Christian
labor as may be suited to their abilities.
“2. No vow shall be exacted from any deaconess, and any one of their
number shall be at liberty to relinquish her position as a deaconess at any
time.
“3. In every Annual Conference within which deaconesses may be
employed, a Conference board of nine members, at least three of whom
shall be women, shall be appointed by the Conference to exercise a
general control of the interests of this form of work.

“4. This board shall be empowered to issue certificates to duly
qualified persons, authorizing them to perform the duties of deaconesses
in connection with the Church, provided that no person shall receive such
certificate until she shall have served a probation of two years of
continuous service, and shall be over twenty-five years of age.
“5. No person shall be licensed by the board of deaconesses except on
the recommendation of a Quarterly Conference, and said board of
deaconesses shall be appointed by the Annual Conference for such term of
service as the Annual Conference shall decide, and said board shall report
both the names and work of such deaconesses annually, and the approval
of the Annual Conference shall be necessary for the continuance of any
deaconess in her work.
“6. When working singly each deaconess shall be under the direction
of the pastor of the church with which she is connected. When associated
together in a home all the members of the home shall be subordinate to
and directed by the superintendent placed in charge.
“J. M. Thoburn, Chairman.
“A. B. Leonard, Secretary.”

The adoption of this report made its contents a portion of the organic
law of the Church.
It is doubtful if there was any measure taken at the General Conference
of 1888 that will be more far-reaching in its results than that which
instituted the office of deaconess. The full and complete recognition
accorded by the highest authority of the Church commended it to the
people, who showed a remarkable readiness to accept the provisions.
Nearly simultaneously, at important points distinct from each other, steps
were taken to establish deaconess homes, and to provide lectures and
practical training to educate deaconesses for their work.
The terms of the law in which the Conference action was expressed
were not closely defined. It was felt that in establishing a new office for a
great Church there must be room for a wide interpretation, to meet the
various exigencies that will arise. It is true, also, that there can be no final
interpretation until there shall be a basis of experience wide enough and
varied enough to furnish facts that will justify us in forming conclusions
from them. Still it was thought by those who were practically engaged in

the work that there should be a common agreement on certain practical
points: What was to be the training that the deaconesses were to receive
during the two years of “continuous service?” What was to be their
distinctive garb? What was to be the relation of the deaconess homes, that
were arising, to the Conference board appointed by the Annual
Conference? To discuss these and other questions a Conference was held
in Chicago, December 20 and 21, 1888, of those who were actively
engaged in the work. The outcome of the deliberations was the “Plan for
Securing Uniformity in the Deaconess Movement.” Regulations were
suggested concerning homes and their connection with the Conference
boards, conditions of admission were agreed upon, and a Course of Study
and Plan for Training recommended.12 Of course the recommendations set
forth in the “Plan” are not obligatory, but there has been remarkable
unanimity so far in accepting them.
In addition to the Chicago Deaconess Home, and the branch in New
Orleans, there is the Elizabeth Gamble House in Cincinnati, of which Miss
Thoburn is superintendent; the Home in New York city, instituted by the
Board of the Church Extension and Missionary Society, under the
superintendence of Miss Layton; the home in Detroit, under the auspices
of the Home Missionary Society; and homes under way or projected in
Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Minneapolis; while individually deaconesses
are employed in Kansas City, Jersey City, Troy, and Albany. It is also well
to add that since his return to India, Bishop Thoburn has opened a
deaconess house in Calcutta, with four American ladies as deaconesses,
while at Muttra a second home has been opened, of which Miss Sparkes,
so long connected with our mission work in India, is superintendent.
Pastor Fliedner thought it strange that in the New World where there is
such ceaseless activity in good works, the deaconess cause should make
such slow progress; but the season of sowing had to precede that of
reaping, and it seems now as though the fullness of time had arrived for
the incorporation into the agencies of the churches of America of the
priceless activities of Christian deaconesses.

1 Phöbe die Diakonissen, Dr. A. Spaeth, p. 31.
2 For facts concerning the Philadelphia Mother-house of Deaconesses, and other
important assistance rendered me, I desire to express acknowledgements to Dr.
W. J. Mann, Dr. A. Spaeth, and Rev. A. Cordes, the rector of the house.
3 McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia, vol. ii, art. “Deaconesses.”

4 Sisterhoods and Deaconesses, Rev. H. C. Potter, D.D.. 1873, p. 118.
5 Sisterhoods and Deaconesses, p. 105.
6 Ibid., p. 181.
7 Constitution and Rules for the Order of Deaconesses of Alabama, Art. vi.
8 Church Work, May, 1888.
9 For this and other suggestions regarding the deaconess question in the
Presbyterian Church, I am greatly indebted to the kindness of Dr. Hastings,
President of the Union Theological Seminary.
10 Presbyterian Review, April, 1889, art. “Presbyterian Deaconesses.”
11 Mrs. Meyer’s book on Deaconesses, containing also the story of the Chicago
Training-school and Deaconess Home, gives the best description to be obtained
of the rise of the work in Chicago.
12 A more extended and elaborate course of study has been prepared by the Rev.
Alfred A. Wright, D.D., Cambridge, Mass.

C H A P T E R X I V.

THE MEANS OF TRAINING AND THE
FIELD OF WORK FOR DEACONESSES IN
AMERICA.

The deaconesses of the early Church differed from those of modern
times, as we have seen, in being directly responsible to a church society,
and in belonging to a church congregation in numbers of two or more.
Modern life shows a strong tendency to organization. Wherever there are
workers in a common cause they are banded together in societies and
associations. It was in accordance with the spirit of the age in which he
lived that Fliedner united his workers in the Rhenish-Westphalian
Deaconess Society, in 1836. It was a happy inspiration—shall we not say a
providential one?—that furnished a convenient organization for the office
under present conditions. The mother-houses in Germany offered good
working-models, and their practical advantages were so obvious that in
whatever Protestant denomination the diaconate of women has revived, it
has been in connection with these homes. There is no place where the
training of a deaconess in all its aspects can be so well obtained as in the
deaconess home and training-school, which is our synonym for the
German mother-house.
Besides the advantages of a permanent home, under careful
supervision, to which the probationers and deaconesses have access, in
such a home care is taken to train the deaconesses in the doctrines of the
Church, and there is an atmosphere favorable to the virtues of faith and
devotion that the work demands. The deaconesses are never allowed to
forget that they serve in a threefold capacity: “Servants of the Lord Jesus;
servants of the sick and poor, ‘for Jesus’ sake;’ servants one to another.”
The motto of the indomitable little republic of Switzerland, “All for each
and each for all,” might well be accepted as that characteristically
belonging to them.

Then, too, there is a tradition of service in such a home. One deaconess
learns from another. The physician is at hand to give his suggestions and
medical instruction, and the lectures on Church history, on the history of
missions, and on methods of evangelization make the home a center of
information on all questions that affect the usefulness of the office. There
is no other one place in which to obtain the practical and theoretical
instruction that is needed for the education of a deaconess well equipped
for her work.
Furthermore, the deaconess home offers a wide and varied field for
those possessing different gifts. None can be so highly educated and
cultivated that places cannot be found to utilize their talents to good
advantage; while those who are sadly lacking in the education of the
schools can, by talent, untiring industry, and energy make up for defects in
early training.
The field of work of the deaconess in modern times is a large one. It
would be easier to define what it is not than what it is. In orphanages, in
asylums for fallen women, in women’s prisons, in reform schools, in
Sunday-schools, infant schools, and higher schools, in classes among
working-girls and servants, in industrial homes, in asylums for the blind
and deaf and dumb, in hospitals of various kinds, and in churches,
working under the direction of the pastor—in all of these relations and
many others we find deaconesses in Germany, France, England, and other
European countries.
The service in hospitals seems especially incumbent upon Christian
women, and in the early history of these institutions we find deaconesses
mentioned in connection with them.
Before the birth of Christ hospitals were unknown. It is true that in
Rome and Athens a certain provision was made for the poor, and largesses
were given them from time to time. But this was done from motives of
political expediency, and not from sympathy or commiseration with their
ills. But as soon as the early Christians were free to practice their religion
openly, hospitals arose in all the great cities. In the latter half of the fourth
century the distinguished Christian teacher, Ephrem the Syrian, in Edessa,
placed rows of beds for the sick and starving. His contemporary, Basil, the
great bishop of Cæsarea, founded a number of institutions for strangers,
the poor, and the sick, caring especially for the lepers.1 Little houses were
built closely together, but so that the patients could be separated one from

another, and cared for separately. Even at that early date the hospitals were
arranged into divisions for either sex, as they are at the present time. To
use a modern phrase, the wards of the men patients were placed under the
charge of a deacon while the deaconesses ministered to the sick of their
own sex, according as their services were required. “It was a rule for the
deacons and deaconesses to seek for the unfortunate day by day, and to
inform the bishops, who in turn, accompanied by a priest, visited the sick
and needy of all classes.”2
In the Middle Ages there were orders of Hospitallers, consisting of
laymen, monks, and knights, who devoted themselves entirely to the care
of the sick. Under their influence great and splendid hospitals were built,
of which the old Hôtel Dieu in Paris was a conspicuous example. The
Hospital of the Holy Ghost in Rome, and the service of the same order,
originated like hospitals all over Europe. In late years, with the
development of medical and surgical art, hospital arrangements have
arrived at a degree of perfection never before known; and the care of the
sick, as it has been studied and practiced by Protestant deaconesses and
Catholic Sisters of Mercy, has also greatly improved.
The state to which the hospitals had degenerated in Fliedner’s time,
and the need of experienced nurses who should be actuated by the highest
Christian motives, were among the strong reasons he advanced for
providing the Church with deaconesses as helpers. Here are his words:3
“The poor sick people lay heavily on my mind. How often had I seen them
neglected, their bodily wants miserably provided for, their spiritual needs
quite forgotten, withering away in their often unhealthy rooms like leaves
in autumn; for how many cities, even those having large populations, were
without hospitals! And I have seen many on my travels in Holland,
Brabant, England, and Scotland, as in our own Germany; I often found the
portals of glittering marble, but the nursing and care were wretched.
Physicians complained bitterly of the drunkenness and immorality of the
attendants, and what shall I say of the spiritual care? In many hospitals
preachers we’re no longer found; hospital chaplains yet more seldom. In
the pious olden time these men were always in such institutions, especially
in the Netherlands, where evangelical hospitals bore the beautiful name of
“God’s house,” because it was recognized that God especially visits the
inmates of such houses, to draw them to himself. Do not such wrongs cry
to heaven? Is not our Lord’s reproachful word addressed to us, ‘I was sick

and in prison and ye visited me not?’ And shall not our Christian women
be capable and willing to undertake the care of the sick for Christ’s sake?”
It was by such words, and similar ones, as in his famous appeal
“Freiwillige vor” (Volunteers to the front!) which he sent out from
Wurtemberg to Basel in 1842, that he aroused the Christian women of
Germany to give themselves to this service. By their aid he instituted a
system of nursing that has changed the aspect of every hospital ward in
Germany; and, through the training that Florence Nightingale enjoyed at
Kaiserswerth, the reform that was there instituted passed to England, and
has effected a transformation in the entire hospital system of England.
In Germany deaconesses are often trained to special duties that are
required in hospitals for certain diseases or certain classes of patients, and
they are becoming so skillful in their duties that the present system of
hospital nursing could not be continued without their aid.
The nursing care of deaconesses in insane asylums is especially
valuable. The large and well-ordered Insane Asylum for Female Patients in
Kaiserswerth, with its long lists of cases soundly cured, shows how
healthful and important is the quiet, constant influence of intelligent
Christian attendance upon those who are mentally unsound.
The usefulness of deaconesses as care-takers in all kinds of hospitals
and homes for the aged, and asylums of every description, is so apparent
that it does not need to be dwelt upon. The crèche, or day home, where
infants and young children can be sheltered and watched during the day
while their mothers are at work, is an institution that started in Paris in
1834, through the efforts of M. Marbeau, one of the mayors of a district of
the city. This is now incorporated into the government system of Paris, and
the idea has spread to neighboring lands, so that such homes are found in
many of the cities in South Germany and Switzerland. It is true that there
are no nurses that can care for children as the true mother, but where
mothers have to be absent from morning until night engaged at hard work,
and the little ones are left neglected at home, or in the care of other
children who are themselves young enough to need very nearly the same
attention that is bestowed on the infants; or where the mothers are such in
name, but in reality are failing in every quality which we attach to that
sacred office; or where the foundling hospital is the only alternative to
which the real mother, confronted by the necessity of earning bread for
herself and child, can turn—in such cases the crèche is a real benefaction

whose existence has enabled families to keep together, and children to be
given a chance in life who otherwise would have had small prospect of
keeping soul and body together.
There is another institution, called the waiting-school, where children
from two to four years of age are received, whose parents both go daily to
work, and who would be left to wander about the streets unless this place
of refuge were opened to them. The crèche, or day home, seeks only to
watch over the infants who are put in its care, or to amuse them and keep
them contented; the waiting-school goes further, and tries to give the little
ones some ideas of discipline and the elementary beginnings of
instruction. Fliedner, who was a lover of children, took great interest in
both these institutions, and in his school for infant-school teachers
prepared deaconesses especially for the duties that are required in teachers
of this class. The motherly heart, the gift of story-telling and singing, a
pleasant and unruffled demeanor, the quiet but firm inculcation of order
and obedience—these and other qualities Fliedner sought to develop in
instructors for these schools.
The day homes have already been introduced into many places in the
United States, and often cover the field of both the crèche and waiting-
school, but there is a wide opportunity for the extension of their
usefulness; and whether in the future, when the demands upon Christian
deaconesses shall be much more multiplex than they are now, it may be
necessary to provide special training for Christian teachers in America for
such special work, time alone can decide. The question of Christian
education is one that has not yet been determined in its full extent. In the
year 1800 Mother Barat, of the Catholic Church, founded the order of
Sisters of the Sacred Heart, which is especially devoted to the education of
daughters belonging to the higher social ranks. At her death it numbered
three thousand five hundred members, and had over seventy
establishments, which are located in every civilized land. It cannot be
maintained that the education given in these schools is either extensive or
profound, but the influence of the order upon the women whom it has
reached has been both. Fliedner, at Kaiserswerth, went as far as his age
and environments would permit him to go. He provided schools where
teachers were prepared as instructors for all grades of schools, from the
most elementary up to the girls’ high-schools; and no other institution in
Germany, with one or two exceptions, such as the Victoria Institute at

Berlin, yet offers positions to women teachers of a higher grade than is
afforded by these schools. But in other lands, where the educational
facilities for women are far beyond those that Germany can offer at the
present time, positions of higher importance and wider influence are held
by women; and it is an important question for the future what class of
women shall fill these places. If Fliedner had had to meet the problem we
can imagine he would have done so with the boldness and energy that he
showed in solving those that his times and circumstances afforded him. He
would, doubtless, have enlisted among his deaconesses those whose
talents gave him reason to provide them with the widest training the
schools can offer; and then he would have endeavored to place them
where they could do the most effective service for Christ and his Church.
It may be that in the future which opens before the women of the
Methodist Episcopal Church of America there will be just such questions
seeking and finding solution.
Doubtless at the present time the deaconess who will answer to the
greatest number of immediate wants is the “parish-deaconess,” or the
home mission deaconess, as we may call her. Her usefulness has been well
tested in the great cities of Germany, France, and England, as we have
seen. Perhaps nowhere is her work better appreciated than in London, the
greatest city of modern times. The tendency of this age of manufactures
and commerce is to attract laborers and workers from country homes,
where work has become less open to them through the increased use of
agricultural machines of all kinds, into cities, where factories, shops,
counting-rooms, and offices constantly afford openings. London has felt
the full force of this movement. In 1836 her population was about equal to
that of New York, including Brooklyn and Jersey City. Now the great city
contains 5,500,000 inhabitants. It is growing at the rate of over 100,000 a
year, nor is there any influence at work to stop its growth. The same
causes that produce it are constantly at work. The great massing of the
population together, with the unequaled increase in the wealth of the
people, make the contrast of riches and poverty striking and obvious. The
west of London, with its vast wealth, its homes of refinement and
elegance, and its appliances for the enjoyment of art, science, and
literature, is separated from the poverty, the degradation, the misery, and
the sorrow of the East End by a gulf as great as that which separated
Lazarus from Dives. It is difficult for those who are at ease, whose lives,

to use Wordsworth’s felicitous phrase, are made up “of cheerful yesterdays
and confident to-morrows”—it is difficult for such even faintly to
apprehend the dullness, the drudgery, and the hardships of those who, even
at the best estate, are obliged to live in such surroundings. The vast
metropolis a few years ago was for a short time shaken out of its lethargy
by a voice that would be heard, when The Bitter Cry of Outcast London
was published. “Few who will read these pages have any conception of
what these pestilential human rookeries are, where tens of thousands are
crowded together amid horrors which call to mind what we have heard of
the middle passage of the slave-ship. To go into them you have to
penetrate courts reeking with poisonous malodorous gases arising from
accumulations of sewerage, refuse scattered in all directions, and often
flowing beneath your feet; courts, many of them, which the sun never
penetrates, which are never visited by a breath of fresh air. You have to
ascend rotten stair-cases, grope your way along dark and filthy passages
swarming with vermin. Then, if you are not driven back by the intolerable
stench, you may gain admittance into the dens in which these thousands of
beings herd together. Eight feet square! That is about the average size of
many of these rooms…. Where there are beds they are simply heaps of
dirty rags, shavings, or straw, but for the most part the miserable beings
find rest only upon the filthy boards…. There are men and women who lie
and die day by day in their wretched single room, sharing all the family
trouble, enduring the hunger and the cold, without hope, without a single
ray of comfort, until God curtains their staring eyes with the merciful film
of death.”4
Such are the places where the deaconesses of East London go in and
out from morn to eve, like angels of mercy, succoring the miserable and
unhappy, often rebuking vice, and encouraging with friendly words those
who are worn and discouraged in the battle of life. Here they nurse the
sick, hold mothers’ meetings, start evening classes for working young
men, and gather the children of all ages in every kind of class that can
interest and instruct them. They are always ready to provide for individual
cases that they meet. If they find a friendless young servant-girl who is out
of work, they send her to the servants’ home, where, for very little
payment, sometimes nothing at all, she can be taken care of long enough
to give her fresh courage and strength. Then she is aided in seeking a

situation, and so she is saved from the innumerable temptations to vice
and misery that are sure to assail her if she stands alone.
Many of these deaconesses are educated women, gladly devoting their
whole life and energies to the work, and who with “food and raiment” are
quite content. Nothing but a strong indomitable faith in God’s love and
promises can stand the strain of such work. But if there is the faith and
love to deny self and dare all “for the love of Christ and in His name,”
where can such rewards for labor be found? The dull streets become filled
with friends, sodden countenances brighten, the little children come with
loving faces and gladdened hearts, and the deaconess is recognized as
interpreting to the hearts of these weary, forlorn, helpless people the love
of God who, when He came upon earth, shared the burdens that belonged
to His humanity. He came as a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief,
and it was the “common people” that heard Him gladly. The deaconess, in
her distinctive dress, is becoming a well-known figure in the east of
London, and not only protected but recommended by her garb, she visits
the lowest parts of the city without danger. Just such deaconesses are
needed in the cities of America. The cities of the United States are
increasing as wonderfully as the great cities of the Old World. With the
surplus population of Europe pouring in upon us by the hundreds of
thousands annually our country is doubling in numbers every twenty-five
years; and the growth of the towns absorbs a larger proportion of this
multitude than does the country. The cities attract the immigrants because
there they find others of their own nationality. In some cities there are
whole foreign colonies where the people speak a foreign tongue, read
foreign newspapers, and have very few interests in common with the
people of the land in which they live. They continue the same customs and
the same habits of thought that belonged to them in the Old World.
Examples of such colonies are found in the thirty thousand Poles in
Buffalo, and the sixty thousand Bohemians in Chicago.
Then the cities offer attractions that are irresistible to the young men
and women from the country. Thousands leave quiet country homes every
year, and, with no certain prospects before them, cast themselves into the
busy life of the nearest great metropolis. In many places, especially in
New England, the villages number less, and farm land is much less
valuable than it was fifty years ago. It is this massing of population that is
causing us already to experience some of the evils that are old problems in

the great cities of Europe. There is the same gulf between the rich and the
poor, with the added element that the great mass of the poor are composed
of foreigners and their children. And the difference in race is a hinderance
to a common ground of sympathy. A greater hinderance is the difference in
religious faith. The preponderating number of native Americans are
Protestants, and their thoughts and beliefs are permeated with the
principles that their fathers held so dear, and which they sacrificed home
and country to preserve. They hold a faith that is inseparably connected
with free institutions, personal liberty, and personal responsibility. But the
mass of foreigners that are in the great cities largely belong to the
working-class, and, with the large proportion of the poor who are the
wards of the city, are Roman Catholic in faith, a faith that has little in
sympathy with republican institutions, and which least prepares its
followers to exercise the duties of citizens of a republic. Keeping these
facts in mind, the statistics contained in the following extracts are of
telling force: “If the laboring class should contribute its due proportion to
the congregations, the churches, many of which are now half empty,
would not begin to hold the people. In 1880 there was in the United States
one evangelical organization to every 516 of the population; in Boston,
counting churches of all kinds, there was but one to every 1,600 of the
population; in Chicago, one to every 2,081; in New York, one to every
2,468; in St. Louis, one to every 2,800.” “The worst of it is that, instead of
improving, the condition of things has been growing worse every year.
While the prosperous classes are moving away to the suburbs, and the
laborers are being more densely massed together in the heart of the city,
the church accommodations, even if fully used, are becoming more
inadequate to the needs of the community. Including religious
organizations of all sorts, New York had in 1830 one place of worship for
every 1,853 of its inhabitants; in 1840, one for every 1,840; in 1850, one
for every 2,095; in 1860, one for every 2,344; in 1870, one for every
2,004; in 1880, one for every 2,468; and the religious history of Chicago is
even more noteworthy in this respect: Chicago had in 1840 one church for
every 747 of its population; in 1851 there was one for every 1,009; in
1862, one for every 1,301; in 1870, one for 1,593; in 1880, one for 2,081;
in 1885, one for 2,254. All the large cities have districts which are
destitute of church accommodations, and have not seats in Sunday-school
for more than one tenth of their children.”5

Have we not as great need of deaconesses as any of the cities of the
Old World? Most of our pastors stand alone. They do not have the
assistant curates and pastors that are connected with large city churches in
Berlin and London. When the minister makes pastoral calls, and, entering
working-men’s homes, finds sickness and scanty resources, he has no
deaconess to call to his aid with her cheerful words of encouragement and
her loving sympathy, that are better than money and medicine. It is not
charity alone that is wanted in such cases; it is the knowledge of how to
use proper means to make the sick one comfortable, how to lessen the
burden on the family that a small additional call for work and care has so
sadly taxed; how to enlighten the ignorance that is so common without
wounding the susceptibilities that are so human. For, to quote the words of
the Christ in the Vision of Sir Launfal:
“Not what we give, but what we share,
For the gift without the giver is bare;
Who gives himself with his alms feeds three:—
Himself, his hungry neighbor, and Me.”

It is for such ministrations that we need deaconesses in every
evangelical church of the United States; may the women that are ready to
“publish the tidings” be “a great host.”

1 Der Diakonissenberuf nach seiner Vergangenheit und Gegenwart. Emil Wacker,
Gütersloh, 1888, p. 196.
2 McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia, vol. iv, art. “Hospitals.” The editors give
as authority for this statement, Augustine, De Civit. Dei, i, xxii, c. 8.
3 Theodor Fliedner, Kurzer Abriss seines Lebens. Kaiserswerth, 1886, p. 60.
4 The Bitter Cry of Outcast London, pp. 3–10.
5 Modern Cities, by S. L. Loomis, New York, 1887, pp. 88, 89.

C H A P T E R X V.

OBJECTIONS MET AND SUGGESTIONS
OFFERED.

“Success and glory are the children of hard work and God’s favor,” is
the inscription upon the tablet erected in Christ’s Hospital, London, to the
memory of Sir Henry Maine.
Upon these two elements depends the future of the deaconess cause in
America. We are assured of the one; will the other be forthcoming? Will
the individual members of the Church give this cause their hearty support?
Surely the facts that have been stated must have convinced the judgment,
but perhaps there are certain prejudices to be overcome. “I fear that
deaconesses too closely resemble Catholic nuns for Protestants to accept
them,” says one. No; these helpful Christian women are thoroughly
Protestant. Deaconesses are no Catholic institution. Wherever they have
appeared they have been met by open antagonism from the Catholic
Church. Witness the calumnies with which the papers of that capital have
constantly assailed the deaconess home of Paris.
There is good in the Catholic sisterhoods, but mingled with much that
we disapprove. The deaconess institutions have the good features, but
have avoided the ill. Much of the success of the Catholic Church in
winning the poor and in retaining its influence over the lowly is due to the
power exerted by the sisters who go about from house to house among the
poor, and are received as friends.
There is a great army of Catholic sisters. It is calculated that there are
about 28,000 Sisters of Vincent de Paul, 22,000 Franciscan Sisters caring
for the sick, 6,000 Sisters of the Holy Cross, 5,000 Sisters of Charles,
making a total of about 60,000 sisters of various orders belonging to the
Catholic Church1 who are occupied with works of mercy. The sisters
engaged in education are often well-trained and accomplished. The order
of Charles will not accept widows, orphans without property, girls from
asylums, or those that have served as maids. As a rule, those that join it

must make some contribution of money to the order when they are
received. This order is small, but one of the most active and aggressive of
any. The great number of the sisters, however, are women of few
advantages, taken from poor homes and lives of toil. There is wisdom in
this course, for a great deal of the work to be done depends upon qualities
that can be developed by training, while the exceptional education and
talents are employed in the exceptional places.
A contemplation of these facts just recorded causes us better to
understand the importance that the co-operation of women has for the
Catholic Church. It causes us, too, to appreciate better the opening before
the Protestant women of all evangelical churches, so wide, so all-
embracing that every variety of talent can find a place.
Gifts of clothes or food or fuel are not so well appreciated as the
respectful hearing which clothes the teller with self-respect, the kind word
and loving sympathy that feed the heart, the inspiring consolations of
religious faith that animate and warm the soul, and such gifts women of
sympathetic Christian hearts can ever render. As has been well said, “Shall
the advantages of such a system be monopolized by those who have so
little else to offer?”2
You may say, “I do not object to the deaconess and her work, but I do
object to her distinctive dress. I do not believe in a uniform of charity.”
But let us consider the arguments that can be brought forward in favor of
it. It is a distinctive garb because its wearer is a distinctive officer of the
Church. Unless she were “set apart” by some uniform immediately and
widely recognized how could she have the protection that is accorded her?
Alike in every land where she is known, as we have seen, the deaconess
can venture into any part of the great cities at any hour, and is invariably
treated with respect. There is in the heart of the rudest and most lawless
some trace of chivalry which recognizes the self-denying lives of these
women. Then, in making her visits, the deaconess finds her dress an
introduction that opens doors that would otherwise remain closed to her. It
certainly is a convenient and economical garb, that saves a great deal of
time and money to the wearer.
Are not these advantages more than an offset to an ill-defined
objection to the dress because it has been associated with women who are
alien to our Protestant faith? This is a minor matter, however, and one that
can be adjusted at liking.

You may say, “I do not like to think of a woman who is dear to me cut
off from the pleasures of home life, and devoted to a life-time of work
among those who, in many respects, must be repugnant to her tastes. It
does not seem so high and beautiful a life as that which makes home a
center, and carries on its activities from there.”
But there are many women debarred from the pleasures of home life
by God’s direct providence to whom other duties and responsibilities have
been allotted. And then this work may not necessarily be for life. It is true
that when a Christian woman occupies the position of a deaconess she
must relinquish wholly all other pursuits so long as she holds this office.
Neither without grave and weighty reasons should she seek to leave it. It is
her calling. The period of probation has its uses, not only in making the
probationer familiar with the duties and tasks demanded of her, but in
giving her time to test the strength of her call to service, that she may not,
through enthusiasm, lightly assume the duties of the office, nor as lightly
throw them aside.
But if a deaconess is called away to perform her duties as a sister or
daughter, or if she desires to marry, she is free to do so, after giving due
information to those with whom she is connected in work. Freedom and
liberty are in every phase of this office.
As to the highest life for a woman, an archbishop of England well said
some years ago, “that whatever life God gives to any woman is the highest
life for that woman,” and that “in becoming a deaconess a woman
devoting herself to this life must believe that it is the highest life for her,
and that in it she gives herself wholly to the Lord.”3
There should be no country like America for the favorable
development of the deaconess cause, because in no other have women
such large freedom of action, and, if we may believe our friends, they have
improved it well. A distinguished English historian has just given us what
we are fain to accept as words of just and discriminating praise. “In no
other country have women borne so conspicuous a part in the promotion
of moral and philanthropic causes…. Their services in dealing with
charities and reformatory institutions have been inestimable…. The nation,
as a whole, owes to the active benevolence of its women, and their zeal in
promoting social reforms, benefits which the customs of continental
Europe would scarcely have permitted women to confer…. Those who
know the work they have done and are doing in many a noble cause will

admire still more their energy, their courage, their devotion. No country
seems to owe more to its women than America does, nor to owe to them so
much of what is best in social institutions, and in the beliefs that govern
conduct.”4
Nor in any denomination should we expect women to be more ready to
adopt this work than in the Methodist Episcopal Church, because women
members have been accustomed to exercise nearly all the obligations and
duties, and many of the privileges, that are accorded the laity of the great
connection, and they are prepared to accept new duties in new relations.
This Church has over a million women enrolled as members, able to serve
it in every capacity, from the lady in her home dispensing gracious
Christian hospitality, to the one standing quite alone, who will welcome,
as a brevet of rank, this new call to service. There are many such women
ready to respond. Many, too, whose hearts have been left desolate by
bereavement, who will be glad to fill the empty hands and vacant life by
work for God and humanity. To such a woman the wide world is her
home; the dear ones of her family are the poor and sick and needy who
crave her aid.
The beautiful Mildmay motto is: “They dwell with the King for his
work.” There are thousands of women all over the land who are ready to
become “King’s Daughters” in this additional sense of the word. The
possibility of what such women can accomplish in the furtherance of
God’s kingdom upon earth has not begun to be fathomed.
Think of a great city church, with the manifold interests clustering
around it, left to the care of a single pastor! He has not only the
preparation of his weekly sermons, the care of the social meetings of the
church, but a long line of other duties that are equally important to
maintain. He must perform pastoral duties, push forward aggressive
movements in behalf of the masses not touched by the church services,
and fulfill public duties in connection with great charities, philanthropies,
and moral reforms that he cannot neglect without injury. If the efforts of
such a pastor could be furthered by one, two, or more deaconesses, as are
many of the pastors of the London churches, how greatly would the
working force of such a Church be increased!
It is true that we must develop the work in accordance with our
American ideas and institutions. Through the study of the methods that
have been adopted in European institutions, and the experience that has

been there won through long years of patient toil, we are prepared in a
measure to start where their work leaves off. But we shall find that our
circumstances require new adjustments, and that we shall have our own
problems to solve, so that eventually our work will assume a distinctively
American form.
We have only to plant the seed and to give it favorable conditions for
growth. The outcome is not ours: “In the morning sow thy seed, and in the
evening withhold not thy hand.” The results are with Him who giveth the
increase.
The practical question may occur to some one who reads these pages,
“What shall I do to become a deaconess?” Write to the superintendent of
the nearest deaconess home, and ask for directions. It is best not to
multiply homes until we have a larger number of trained deaconesses that
are ready to take charge of them, and until the number of applicants
desiring to enter them is much greater than at present.
Many churches that need the services of a deaconess will doubtless
select one of their number whose heart God has inclined to this service,
and will provide the means by which she can secure the necessary training
at a home and training-school. There are many devout Christian women in
every community who have for years been deaconesses in labors, if not in
title and prerogatives. It is very important for such women to give their
sympathies and fostering care to this new institution. If not deaconesses by
office, they can ally themselves as associates. The associate is a real
officer in many of the deaconess establishments in London. Ladies who
have great sympathy with the cause, and an earnest desire to do what they
can to advance it, give some portion of their time, their labor, or their
means to promote its interests. They will go to the home and reside there
for some weeks or months, being under the direction of the superintendent
and filling all the duties of a sister. Or, if such duties are not practicable,
they will work in behalf of the home, often securing the aid of those
whose assistance is most valuable. In some places it is arranged that a
woman who earns her bread by daily toil shall be assigned to labor at her
regular vocation, consecrating a certain portion of her wages (perhaps one
twenty-fourth) to the cause with which she is allied.
The Church has been accused of being too abstract, too ideal, too far
removed from the life of the people in its every-day aspects. It is well for
Church members to examine themselves, and the Church communities to

which they belong, to judge how much ground there is for such criticism.
None are so sharp-sighted as hostile critics, and from none can such good
lessons be learned. But this accusation is not a new one, and the only
effectual way to meet it is to point to what the Church has accomplished.
Over eighteen hundred years ago, when John the Baptist was in danger of
mistaking our Lord, he sent to him, saying: “Art thou he that should
come? or look we for another?” and the answer was: “Go your way, and
tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the
lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the
poor the gospel is preached.”
Let us be prepared to make a similar answer to-day, and the Church
need fear no accusation of holding aloof from the needs of the daily life of
the people.
“Christianity, as it stands in the Bible and in our creeds, will neither be
read nor understood by millions; Christianity as it is revealed in the loving
service of deaconesses will be recognized by the dullest eyes.”5
We have reached a new departure in Methodism. The Church has
added another to its aggressive forces. How is it to be received? What
welcome will be given it? May pastors and people, one and all, be in that
attitude of spirit where we shall respond readily to the command:
“Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.”

1 Die Diakonissenberuf nach seine Vergangenheit und gegenwart. Emil Wacker.
Gütersloh, 1888, chap. vi.
2 Modern Cities. S. L. Loomis, The Baker & Taylor Co., New York, 1887, p. 192.
3 Deaconesses in the Church of England, Griffith & Farran, 1880, p. 31.
4 The American Commonwealth, James Bryce. MacMillan & Co., 1889, vol. ii,
pp. 586, 589.
5 Phöbe die Diakonissen, p. 8.

NOTE.

Y e a r ly Expenditures at Kaiserswerth

.
While the book is in press the following interesting statistics are
received, which are deemed of sufficient importance to insert here.
Receipts and expenditures of Kaiserswerth for the three years from
1885 to 1888:

Year. Receipts. Expenses.
1885–1886 …… 333,476 m. 74 pf. 331,812 m. 12 pf.
1886–1887 …… 371,523 m. 46 pf. 370,626 m. 45 pf.
1887–1888 …… 337,508 m. 14 pf. 492,384 m. 21 pf.

In the year 1887–1888, the excess of expenses over receipts was
caused by the construction of a new building, and special funds were
contributed which more than met the deficit.
Rev. F. Fliedner, the son of Pastor Fliedner further writes: “This does
not include the expenses in the East and other foreign stations. In truth,
about six hundred thousand marks pass yearly through our treasury.” What
an amount of good accomplished by the yearly expenditure of one
hundred and fifty thousand dollars!

INDEX.

Acts vi, 3, 13, 79.
Addlestone, 161.
Africa, Northern, 108.
Age requirements, 29, 187.
Alabama, 213.
America, 73, 107, 252.
America, The Deaconess Cause in, 204: German
Lutherans, 204; W. A. Passavant, Pittsburg, 205; Mary J.
Drexel Home and Philadelphia Mother-house of
Deaconesses, 208; Swedish Lutherans, Omaha, 211;
Norwegian Lutherans, Brooklyn, 211; German
Reformed, Hagerstown, 211; Protestant Episcopal
Church, Baltimore, 212; Alabama, 213; Long Island,
215; Western New York, 216; Presbyterian Church, 217;
Southern Presbyterian Church, 218; Methodist Episcopal
Church, Lucy Rider Meyer, 220; Rock River
Conference, Bengal Conference, 221; General
Conference action, 222; Conference, “Plan,” Homes,
226.
America, The Means of Training and the Field of Work
for Deaconesses in, 228: threefold service, 229;
hospitals, 230; day-homes, 236; home-mission
deaconesses, 238; London, 239; cities, 242; parish
deaconesses, 245.
Amprucla, a deaconess, 25.
Amsterdam, 43, 143.
Andrews, Edward G., 6.
Andover Review, 150.
Apostolic Constitutions, 19, 21, 24, 85.
Armen und Kranken Freund, 66.
“Associates,” 193, 213–215, 256.
Asia Minor, 76, 108.
Austria, 104, 108.
Author’s facilities, 4.

Baillie, Lady Grisell, 200, 201, 203.
Ball’s Pond, 182.
Balsamon, Professor, 31.
Baltimore, St. Andrew’s, 212.
Baptism, 22, 32.
Barat, Mother, 237.
Barnet, 167, 181.
Bartholomew’s prayer, 23.
Basil, of Cæsarea, 231.
Beghards, The, 37.
Béguines, The, 35–37, 145.
Beirut, Syria, 76.
Belgium, 34, 37.
Belleville, France, 134.
Bengal Conference, 221.
Berlin, 72, 99, 102, 111, 113, 114, 237, 245.
Barnardo, Dr., 159.
Berne, Switzerland, 103.
Bertheau, Caroline, 72.
Bethany House, 72, 102.
Bethany Society, 115, 118.
Bethnal Green, 180, 185.
Bible-classes, 175, 186.
Bible stories, 65, 124.
Bible study, 84.
Birthdays, 64, 71.
Boarders in Home, 132.
Bohemian brethren, 40.
Bohemians, Chicago, 243.
Boston churches, 244.
Bremen, Germany, 110.
Brighton, England, 181.
Brooklyn, N. Y., 211, 215.
Brotherhood in Christ, 10, 11.
Brotherhood of the Common Life, 37.
Buffalo, Poles in, 243.

Calcutta, India, 227.
Calvin, John, 42, 134.
Cambridge Platform, 144.
Catechumens, female, 21.
Celibacy. See Monks, Nuns.

Chalmers, Thomas, 57, 189.
Charitable institutions, 9, 54, 57.
Charité, La, 100.
Charlotte, Sister, 75.
Charteris, A. H., 190, 192, 201.
Chicago, Ill., 73, 243–249.
Chicago Training-school, 220, 221.
Children, 10, 64, 123.
Cholera, 48, 170.
Christ, 246.
Christianity, 257.
Christmas, 178, 180, 181.
Chrysostom, 25, 26.
Church of England, 149, 150, 157, 191.
Church of England Woman’s Missionary Association, 163.
Church of England Zenana Society, 185.
Church of Scotland, 190, 193, 195, 201, 203.
Church of the Deaconesses, 31.
Churchman, The, 105, 155.
Cincinnati, O., 226.
Cities, 242, 243, 245.
Clapton House School, 182.
Classes of deaconesses, 186, 194.
Collecting money, 53, 54, 114.
Commune, 131.
Commune deaconess. See Parish deaconesses.
Compassion, Christian, 11, 13.
Conference, Chicago, 226.
Kaiserswerth, 86, 106, 152.
Mildmay, 167.
Conference Hall, 171, 178.
Consecration, 23, 29, 85, 140, 199, 210, 211, 217.
Contagious diseases, 84, 88, 170.
Continent, Other Establishments on the, 93: Strasburg,
Pastor Härter, 93; Mülhausen, parish deaconesses, 95;
Berlin servants, 99; Bethany House, 102; Dettelsau,
Berne, Sophie Wurdemberger, 103; Saint Loup, Pastor
Germond, 104; Riehen, Zürich, Gallneukirchen, 104;
joint management, 106; environment, 107; many
deaconesses, more needed, 108.
Convalescent homes, 181.
Convalescents’ home, 126.

Cordes, A., 211.
Constantinople, 25, 28, 31.
Cottage Hospital, 179.
Coventry, Miss, 183.
Crèche, 125, 234, 236.

Dalston, 146.
Damsels of Charity, 43.
Darmstadt, 146.
Daughter-houses, 71, 138.
Davidson, Miss, 200, 201.
Day homes, 235, 236.
“Deaconess,” 149.
how become? 255.
Deaconess Institution and Training-home, 195, 198.
Deaconesses, numerous, 107.
world-wide demand, 108.
See “Associates,” America, Consecration, Continent,
Diaconate, Early, England, Fliedner, German,
Kaiserswerth, Literature, Methodist Episcopal Church,
Mildmay, Objections, Paris, Scotland, Twelfth, etc.
Deacons appointed, 13.
De la Mark, Henry Robert, 44.
Denmark, 108.
Detroit, Mich., 226.
Devonshire Square, 146.
Devotions, 83, 118.
Diaconate, The, 9: brotherhood of all in Christ, 10; foreign
missions, 11; home missions, 12; diaconate, 13; female
diaconate, 14; meaning, 16; qualities, field, 17.
Diaconate, female, 13, 17, 20, 24, 30, 34, 45, 46, 189.
organic, 203.
Discipline, 127, 129.
Dispensary, 69, 75, 103, 180.
Disselhoff, J., 31, 41, 48, 76, 91, 108, 109.
Döllinger, 10.
Doncaster General Infirmary, 182.
Dorcas room, 174.
Dove, symbol, 91.
Dress, distinctive, 36, 82, 116, 155, 156, 210, 242, 249.
Du Camp, Maxime, 134.
Dumas, Mademoiselle, 135, 138.
Düsseldorf, 56.

Düsselthal, 56.

Early Church, 231.
Early Church, Deaconesses in the, 18: Pliny’s letter, 19;
apostolic constitutions, 19; deaconesses, widows,
virgins, 20; deaconess’ duties, 21; prayer of ordination,
23; greatest growth in Eastern Church, 24; Chrysostom,
25; Olympias, 27; age, property, 29; in Western Church,
30; decay, extinction, 32.
East London Deaconess Home, 152, 156.
Easter cards, 178.
Eastern Church, 24.
Eccl. xi, 6, 255.
Edinburgh, Scotland, 189.
Eilers, Frederick, 110, 115.
Elberfeld, 58, 71.
Elizabeth of Prussia, 101.
Endowment, 67.
England. See London.
England, Deaconesses in, 142: Puritans, 142; Amsterdam,
143; Plymouth colony, widows, 144; Southey,
Protestants, 145; Mrs. Fry, Fliedner, Florence
Nightingale, 146; Agnes Jones, 147; Ludlow, Stevenson,
Howson, 148; “sister,” “deaconess,” 149; Church of
England, 150; outside institutions, 158; Tottenham, 159;
Prison Gate Mission, 161; London West Central Mission,
163. See Mildmay.
Environment, 107.
Eppstein, 50.
Epidemic, 87.
Ephrem the Syrian, 231.
Europe. See Continent.
Expenses, 82, 187, 188, 258.

Faith and works, 202, 230.
Fallen women, 112.
Farming, 69.
Faubourg Saint Antoine, 121, 132.
Feierabend Haus, 71.
Ferard, Elizabeth C., 152.
Flag at Kaiserswerth, 91.
Fliedner, the Restorer of the Office of Deaconess, 46:
Klönne, 46; Amalie Sieveking, 47; Count von der Recke,
49; Theodor Fliedner, 50; Idstein, Giessen, Göttingen,
51; Herborn, Cologne, Kaiserswerth, 52; collecting

money, 53; Elizabeth Fry, 55; Prison Society, Frederika
Münster, 56; convict Minna, refuge, 57; Fräulein Göbel,
deaconesses, 59; Rhenish Westphalian Deaconess
Society, 60.
Fliedner, Theodor, 44, 50, 55, 56, 60, 61, 66, 68, 73, 74, 90,
100, 102, 146, 155, 189, 205, 213, 232, 237, 238.
wife of, 56, 58, 62, 63, 65–67.
wife, second, 72.
Fliedner, Fritz, 218, 258.
Florence, Italy, 77.
Florentius, 38.
Flower mission, 173.
Foreign missions, 170.
France, 67. See Paris.
Frankfort, 72, 110, 111, 113.
Frederick William IV., 49, 69, 72, 102.
Free Church of Scotland, 190.
Friends, The, 220.
Fry, Elizabeth, 55, 57, 60, 103, 135, 146, 209.
Fry, Herbert, 146.

Gal. vi, 6, 183.
vi, 10, 13.
Gallneukirchen, 104, 105.
Gamble, Elizabeth, 226.
Garden, 57, 125, 176.
General Conference, 221. action, 4, 222.
German hospital, 127, 146.
German Lutherans, 204, 205, 206, 207.
German Methodism, Deaconesses in, 110: Bethany
Society, 110; reports, 111; fallen women, nurses, 112;
Frankfort, Hamburg, Berlin, 113; collection, 114; Saint
Gall, Zürich, 115; Sister Myrtha, 116; “God’s Fidelity,”
117; regulations, Bethany Society, 118; home training,
119.
German Reformed Church, 211.
Germany, 46, 118, 202, 235. See Berlin.
Germond, Pastor, 104.
Giessen, University, 51.
Gobat, Dr., 74.
Göbel, 59.
Gottestreue, or God’s Fidelity, 117.
Göttingen, University, 51.

Greece, 108.
Greek Church, 24.
Groot, Gerhard, 37, 38.
Guinness, Grattan, 160.

Hachette & Co., 136.
Hadwig, Duchess, 115.
Hagerstown, Md., 211.
Hamburg, 111, 113.
Harley House, 160.
Härter, Pastor, 93.
Hastings, President, 218.
Hausser, G., 110, 111.
Headship, twofold, 106.
Herborn, 52.
Herford, 41.
Herzog, 32.
Holland, 108.
Home, pleasures of, 250.
Home missionary. See Parish deaconess.
Home missions, 170.
Hospitals. 48, 62, 69, 71, 73–75, 83, 93, 100, 103, 115, 125,
127, 146, 158, 170, 179, 180, 206, 207, 230, 232.
House-mother, 106.
House of correction, 127.
House of Evening Rest, 71.
Howson, J. D., 15, 27, 84, 148, 157.
Hoxton, 185.
Hughes, Mrs., 163.
Huguenots, 141.
Humanitarianism, 11.
Huss, John, 40.

Idstein, gymnasium, 51.
Ignatius, 21, 29.
Infirmary, 206.
Imitation of Christ, 38.
Immigrants, 242.
India, 186, 187, 221, 227.
Inquiry, Department of, 183.
Insane, 68, 105, 234.
Introduction, 3.

Invalid kitchen, 173.
Iserlohn, Westphalia, 208.
Italy, 77, 78, 108, 232.

Jacksonville, Ill., 73, 206.
Jaffa, 182.
Jerusalem, 74, 162.
John ii, 5, 257.
John the Baptist, 257.
Jones, Agnes, 147.
Jubilee anniversary, 91.

Kaiserswerth, 52, 57, 147, 152, 203, 234.
yearly expenses, 258.
Kaiserswerth, The Institutions at, 61: deaconess home,
hospital, first deaconess, 63; normal-school for infant-
school teachers, 64; Bible stories, 65; Fliedner’s wife,
65; publishing house, Kaiserswerth Almanac, The Poor
and Sick Friend, finance, 66; orphan asylum, 67; normal-
school for female teachers, insane asylum, 68; farm, 69;
refuge, Salem, 70; House of Evening Rest, daughter-
houses, 71; Berlin, 72; Pittsburg, 73; Jerusalem, 74;
Beirut, Smyrna, 76; Salem in the Lebanon, 77.
Kaiserswerth, The Regulations at, and the Duties and
Services of the Deaconesses, 79; service, 79; nurses,
teachers, visitors, 80; probation, 81; dress, expenses, 82;
duties, quiet half-hour, 83; union, obedience, 84;
consecration, 85; conferences, statistics, 86;
emergencies, 87; wars, 89; Fliedner’s death, successors,
91.
Kaiserswerth Almanac, 86.
Katherine Home, 163.
Kempis, Thomas à, 38.
Kilburn Orphanage, 160.
King’s Daughters, 253.
Klönne, Johann Adolph Franz, 46, 54.
Krueger, Marie, 207.

Lads’ Institute, 181.
Lambert le Bègue, 34.
Lankenau, John D., 207, 208.
Laseron, Dr. and Mrs., 157, 158.
Laundry, 161.
Layton, M. E., 226.
Lectures, syllabus of, 196.

Leonard, A. B., 224.
Library, lending, 175.
Life, the highest, 251.
Lightfoot, Bishop, 15.
Literature referred to, 10, 11, 12, 15, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26, 31,
33, 44, 47, 49, 55, 66, 68, 70, 76, 79, 110, 111, 120, 134,
142, 144, 146, 148, 150–152, 155–157, 164, 167, 175,
178, 181, 192, 194, 205, 212, 214, 216, 217, 221, 226,
232, 241, 245, 253.
Littlejohn, Bishop, 215.
Liverpool work-house, 147.
London, 166, 238–241, 245, 256. See Mildmay.
London Diocesan Deaconess Institution, 151.
London Bible-women’s Mission, 160.
London West Central Mission, 163, 164.
Loomis, S. L., 245.
Los Angeles, Cal., 219.
“Lost Way, The,” 100.
Love, Christian, 11, 13.
Lucian, 22.
Ludlow, John Malcolm, 20, 23, 37, 87, 148.
Luke x, 5, 184.
Luther, Martin, 40, 42.

McClintock & Strong, 23, 232.
McGill, A. T., 217.
MacMaster, 11.
Makrina ordained, 29.
Maine, Henry, 247.
Malta, 182.
Mann, W. J., 207, 211.
Marbeau, M. 235.
Marthashof, 99, 102.
Mary J. Drexel Home and Philadelphia Mother-house of
Deaconesses, 87, 127, 210, 211.
Matt. xi, 3–5, 257.
Maxwell, Alice Maud, 200, 201.
Medical mission, 179.
Medical training, 186, 187.
Mennonites, 44, 54, 59.
Men’s Bible-class, 175.
Men’s Institute, 180.
Men’s Night-school, 174.

Meredith, Mrs., 160, 162.
Methodism, German, 110.
Methodist Episcopal Church, 107, 203, 220, 253, 257.
Meyer, Consul, 207.
Meyer, Lucy Rider, 220, 221.
Middle Ages, 232.
Middleburg, 42.
Mildmay, 202, 253.
Mildmay Institutions, 166: William Pennefather, Barnet,
Conferences, 167; Mildmay Park, 168; missionary
training-school and home, 169; deaconesses, 170;
conference hall, deaconess house, 171; Pennefather’s
death, successor, 173; invalid kitchen, flower mission,
173; Dorcas room, men’s night school, 174; lending
library, men’s Bible-class, servants’ registry, 175; sitting-
room, 175; garden, 176; orphanage, Scripture texts, 177;
conference hall, parish deaconesses, 178; nursery home,
cottage hospital, medical mission, 179; Bethnal Green,
180; convalescent homes, 181; nurses, railway mission,
182; deaconesses of all classes, 183; missionary training-
school, 184; classes trained, 186; expenses, 188.
Milwaukee, Wis., 73, 206.
Ministræ, 19.
Minna, convict, 57.
Minneapolis, Minn., 226.
Missionary training school, 169, 170, 184, 185, 186.
Missions, 11, 12.
Mohammedans, 75.
Monks, 32, 41, 136.
Monod, Sara, 120, 136, 138.
Monod, W., 120.
Moravians, 44, 45.
Morley, Samuel, 159.
Mother-houses, 64, 72, 74, 80, 86, 106.
Mothers, 235.
Mount Vernon, N. Y., 206.
Mülhausen, 95.
Münster, Frederika, 56.
Muttra, India, 227.
Myrtha, Sister, 116.

Neal, Daniel, 142.
Neander, 23, 24.
Nectarius, Bishop, 28.

Netherlands, 35, 37, 39, 42, 44.
Neudettelsau, 103.
New Orleans, La., 226.
New York, N. Y., 226, 244, 245.
Nicarete, deaconess, 25.
Night-school, 174.
Nightingale, Florence, 146-148, 234.
Normal school, 64, 66, 68.
North American Review, 12.
Norway, 108.
Norwegian Lutherans, 211.
Nuns, 32, 37, 41, 151, 247.
Nursery girls, 101.
Nursery home, 179.
Nurses, 68, 71, 80, 83, 89, 90, 93, 104, 112, 113, 127, 133,
182, 191, 208.
Nursing sisters’ institution, 146.

Objections met and Suggestions offered, 247: hard work
and God’s favor, 247; not nuns, 247; Roman Catholic
sisters, 248; distinctive dress, 249; cut off from home
life, 250; America favorable, 252; Methodist Episcopal
Church favorable, 253; how become deaconess? 255;
“do it,” 257.
Orleans, Synod of, 30.
Olympias, 26, 27.
Omaha, Neb., 211.
Ordination. See Consecration.
Origen, 30.
Orphanages, 67, 73, 75–77, 159, 177, 206.
“Outsiders,” 164.

Palestine, 76.
Paris, 232, 235.
Paris, Deaconesses in, 120: Sara Monod, W. Monod, 120;
deaconess establishment, 121; reports, children, 123;
crèche, hospital, 125; convalescents’ home, 126; house
of correction, 127; moral results, 130; Commune
investigation, 131; wounded, boarders, 132; preparatory
school, nurses, 133; success, parish deaconesses, 134;
prisons for women, 135; Mademoiselle Dumas, 136;
branches, 138; parish deaconesses, 139; consecration,
140.
Paris, Matthew, 37.

Parish Deaconesses, 72, 80, 96, 103, 110, 134, 139, 191,
238, 254.
Pascal, Jacqueline, 125.
Passavant, W. A., 73, 205, 206.
Passy, 126.
Pastors, 245, 254.
Pegran, Pasteur, 44.
Pentadia, 26.
Pennefather, William, 167, 73, 202.
wife of, 173.
1 Pet. ii, 5, 40.
iii, 4, 155.
Pharmacy, 126.
Philadelphia, Pa., 87, 127, 207, 210, 218, 226.
Phœbe, 14, 22, 189, 205.
Pilgrim fathers, 143, 144.
Pittsburg, Pa., 73, 205.
Plan for securing uniformity, 226.
Plato, 10.
Pliny, letter, ministræ, 19.
Poles in Buffalo, 243, 244.
Poor Men of Lyons, 39.
Poor and Sick Friend, 66, 104, 152.
Portsmouth, 153.
Potter, H. C. 212.
Prayer, 23, 83, 84, 118.
Presbyterian Church, 202, 217.
Presbyterian Review, 217, 219.
Preparatory school, 133.
Princess Mary Village Home, 161.
Prison Gate Mission, 161.
Prisoners, 55–58, 60, 70, 112, 135, 160, 161.
Probation, 81, 118, 184, 187.
Procla, deaconess, 26.
Protestant Episcopal Church, 212.
Protestants, 48, 105, 145, 151.
Psa. lxviii, 11, 246.
Publishing House, 66, 136.
Pudentiana, deaconess, 30.
Puritans, 142, 144.
Pusey, Dr., 149.

Railway mission, 182.
Recke, Count von der, 49.
Rector, 106.
Reformed Church, 42.
Regulations, 79, 118, 193, 213.
Reichardt, Gertrude, 63.
Rest, 70, 71, 117.
Rhenish-Westphalian Deaconess Society, 228.
Riehen, near Basel, 104.
Rochester, N. Y., 73, 206.
Rock River Conference, 221.
Roman, J. Dixon, 211.
Roman Catholic Church, 30, 34, 244, 248, 249.
Rom. xvi, 1, 14, 115, 189.
Rome, 30, 78, 232.
Rue de Bridaine, 139.
Rue de Reuilly, 120, 127, 132.
Russia, 108.

Sabiniana, 25.
Sachsenhausen, 112.
St. Christopher’s Church, 35.
St. Gaul, 112, 115.
St. Louis, Mo., 226.
St. Loup, 104.
St. Marie, 134.
Salem, 70, 77, 117.
Salisbury Home, 153.
Salle d’Asile, 123.
Savings Bank, 181.
Schäfer, Theodor, 22, 27, 39, 42, 49, 95, 99, 146.
Schaff, Philip, 23, 24, 30.
Scheffel, 115.
Scotland, Deaconesses in, 189: Church of Scotland, A. H.
Charteris’s report, 190; three grades of women workers,
193; Deaconess Institution and Training-home, 195;
syllabus of lectures, 196; consecration, seven years’
experience or two years’ training, 199; Presbyterian
Churches of Great Britain, 202; office of deaconess
made organic, 203.
Scripture texts, illustration of, 177.
Servants, 85, 99, 101, 102.
Servants Home, 241.

Servants’ Registry, 175.
Service, threefold, 79, 229.
Shanghai, 109.
Sieveking, Amalie, 47.
Singing, 84, 85.
“Sister,” 149, 165.
Sisterhoods, 47, 150, 157, 212, 215, 216, 248.
Sisters of Charity, 93, 136, 145.
Sisters of the Common Life, 37, 39.
Sisters of the People, 163, 164.
Sisters of the Sacred Heart, 237.
Smyrna, 76.
Soup Kitchen, 169.
Southern Presbyterian Church, 218.
Southey, 145, 146.
Spaeth, A., 205, 207, 211.
Spain, 108.
Sparkes, Miss, 227.
Sparta, 10.
Spee, Count, 58.
Spee, Countess, 59.
Statistics, 86, 87.
Stevenson. Dr., 148.
“Stille halbe Stunde,” 84.
Strasburg, 93.
Success and glory, 247.
Superintendent, 72, 195.
Support. See Expenses.
Sweden, 108.
Swedish Lutherans, 211.
Switzerland, 104, 112, 235.
Syllabus of Lectures, 196.
Syria, 76.

Talitha Cumi, 75.
Teachers, 68, 76, 80. See Normal.
Theodosius, Emperor, 28.
Thoburn, Isabella, 226.
Thoburn, J. M., 5, 221, 222, 224, 227.
1 Tim. iii, 8, 17.
iii, 8, 9, 79.
iii, 11, 15.

v, 9, 16.
Tit. ii, 3, 16.
Tottenham, 159.
Training-school, 62, 70, 229.
Turkey, 108.
Twelfth to the nineteenth centuries, Deaconesses from
the, 34; Belgium, Lambert le Bègue, 34; Béguines, 35;
Sisters and Brothers of the Common Life, Gerhard
Groot, 37; Thomas à Kempis, 38; Waldenses, 39;
Bohemians, Huss, 40; Luther, 40; Calvin, 42;
Netherlands, 42; Damsels of Charity, 43; Mennonites,
Moravians, 44; Zinzendorf, 45.

Uniformity, Plan, 226.
United States. See America.

Valette, Pastor, 130, 139.
Vermeil, Pastor, 100, 139.
Vienna, 104.
Virgins, 20, 21, 25.
Von Stein, 48.

Wacker, Emil, 21, 40, 66, 231, 248.
Waiting-school, 235, 236.
Wakefield, Bishop of, 157.
Waldenses, 39.
Wars, nurses in, 89.
Weiss, G., 110.
Wesel, 42.
Western Church, 30.
Western New York, 216.
Widows, 16, 20, 21, 144.
Williams, Miss, 104.
“Willows, The,” 184.
Wilmer, Bishop, 213.
Winckworth, C., 102.
Women, Old Testament, 24.
Apostolic times, 13, 16.
Early Church, 20.
Methodist, 6.
Women’s Guild, 193, 200.
Women Workers’ Guild, 193.
Wordsworth, 15, 239.

Work, hard, 247.
Wounded, 89, 131.
Wurdemberger, Sophie, 103.
Wurtemberg, 110.
Work-house, 72, 147.

Young, Alexander, 144.

Zinzendorf, Count, 45.
Zürich, 104, 112, 115, 116.

Transcriber’s Notes:

Obvious spelling/typographical and punctuation errors
have been corrected after careful comparison with other
occurrences within the text and consultation of external
sources.
Transcriber’s notes in text—mostly detailing corrections
—are indicated by faint dotted underlining. Scroll the
mouse over the word and the note will appear.
The original book was published by HUNT & EATON at
New York, and by CRANSTON & STOWE at Cincinnati.
The copyright date was 1889.
Occasional discrepancies between index and text (for
example, “Harter” in the index but “Härter” in the text)
have been corrected to match the text.
Some inconsistent mid-line hyphenations have been
retained:
“bedside” and “bed-side” occur once each
“housework” and “house-work” occur once each
“workhouse[s]” occurs twice and “work-house”
occurs three times

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEACONESSES
IN EUROPE AND THEIR LESSONS FOR AMERICA ***

Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will
be renamed.

Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United
States without permission and without paying copyright royalties.
Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license,
apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic
works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ concept and
trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not
be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following the terms of
the trademark license, including paying royalties for use of the Project
Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for copies of this
eBook, complying with the trademark license is very easy. You may
use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative
works, reports, performances and research. Project Gutenberg eBooks
may be modified and printed and given away—you may do practically
ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected by U.S.
copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark license,
especially commercial redistribution.

START: FULL LICENSE

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG™
LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or
any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
Gutenberg License available with this file or online at
www.gutenberg.org/license.

Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing
Project Gutenberg electronic works

1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg electronic
work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to and accept
all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
all copies of Project Gutenberg electronic works in your possession. If
you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Gutenberg
electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the terms of this
agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or entity to whom
you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.

1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people
who agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg electronic
works. See paragraph 1.E below.

1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the
Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the
collection of Project Gutenberg electronic works. Nearly all the
individual works in the collection are in the public domain in the
United States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in
the United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
that you will support the Project Gutenberg mission of promoting free
access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg works
in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the Project
Gutenberg name associated with the work. You can easily comply with
the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the same format
with its attached full Project Gutenberg License when you share it
without charge with others.

1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
other Project Gutenberg work. The Foundation makes no
representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
country other than the United States.

1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
access to, the full Project Gutenberg License must appear prominently
whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg work (any work on which
the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase
“Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed,
viewed, copied or distributed:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no

restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg™ License included with
this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located
in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the
country where you are located before using this eBook.

1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg electronic work is derived
from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not contain a
notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the copyright
holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in the United
States without paying any fees or charges. If you are redistributing or
providing access to a work with the phrase “Project Gutenberg”
associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply either with
the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or obtain
permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg
trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
will be linked to the Project Gutenberg License for all works posted
with the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of
this work.

1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg.

1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg License.

1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide
access to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg work in a format

other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official
version posted on the official Project Gutenberg website
(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of
obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain
Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the
full Project Gutenberg License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg electronic works provided
that:

• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from the
use of Project Gutenberg works calculated using the method you
already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed to the
owner of the Project Gutenberg trademark, but he has agreed to donate
royalties under this paragraph to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid within 60 days
following each date on which you prepare (or are legally required to
prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly
marked as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, “Information about
donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.”

• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he does
not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ License. You
must require such a user to return or destroy all copies of the works
possessed in a physical medium and discontinue all use of and all
access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ works.

• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the

electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
receipt of the work.

• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free distribution
of Project Gutenberg™ works.

1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg™
electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set forth
in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from the
Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of the
Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in
Section 3 below.

1.F.

1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend
considerable effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and
proofread works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the
Project Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works, and the medium on which they may be
stored, may contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete,
inaccurate or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
cannot be read by your equipment.

1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES -
Except for the “Right of Replacement or Refund” described in
paragraph 1.F.3, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation,
the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party
distributing a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work under this
agreement, disclaim all liability to you for damages, costs and
expenses, including legal fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO
REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, BREACH
OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE
FOUNDATION, THE TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY
DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE

LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT,
CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES
EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.

1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you
discover a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it,
you can receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by
sending a written explanation to the person you received the work
from. If you received the work on a physical medium, you must return
the medium with your written explanation. The person or entity that
provided you with the defective work may elect to provide a
replacement copy in lieu of a refund. If you received the work
electronically, the person or entity providing it to you may choose to
give you a second opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu
of a refund. If the second copy is also defective, you may demand a
refund in writing without further opportunities to fix the problem.

1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth in
paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO
OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. If
any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the law
of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.

1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the
Foundation, the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the
Foundation, anyone providing copies of Project Gutenberg™
electronic works in accordance with this agreement, and any
volunteers associated with the production, promotion and distribution
of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, harmless from all liability,

costs and expenses, including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly
from any of the following which you do or cause to occur: (a)
distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg work, (b) alteration,
modification, or additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg work,
and (c) any Defect you cause.

Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project
Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
from people in all walks of life.

Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg’s goals
and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg collection will remain freely
available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure and
permanent future for Project Gutenberg and future generations. To
learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 and
the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org.

Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation

The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the state
of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Revenue
Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification number is
64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by U.S.
federal laws and your state’s laws.

The Foundation’s business office is located at 41 Watchung Plaza
#516, Montclair NJ 07042, USA, +1 (862) 621-9288. Email contact
links and up to date contact information can be found at the
Foundation’s website and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact

Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation

Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without
widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small
donations ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax
exempt status with the IRS.

The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United States.
Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a considerable
effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up with these
requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations where we have
not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular
state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate.

While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.

International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other

ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate.

Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg
electronic works

Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg
concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project
Gutenberg eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.

Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
edition.

Most people start at our website which has the main PG search facility:
www.gutenberg.org.

This website includes information about Project Gutenberg, including
how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.