Deaconesses in Europe and their Lessons for America

by Jane M. Bancroft

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 the161/157 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 authority162/158 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 so163/159 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 Orphanage164/160 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 discharged165/161 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, each166/162 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 who167/163 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. Their168/164 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.