Deaconesses in Europe and their Lessons for AmericaBancroft, Jane M. (Jane Marie)
Religion
Deaconesses in Europe and their Lessons for America
Bancroft, Jane M. (Jane Marie)
Deaconesses
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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