Overview Religious orders were dissolved by
King Henry VIII when he separated the
Church of England from papal primacy. In 1626,
Nicholas Ferrar, a protegé of
William Laud (1573–1645), with his family, established the
Little Gidding community. Since there was no formal Rule (such as the
Rule of Saint Benedict), no vows taken, and no enclosure, Little Gidding cannot be said to be a formal religious community, like a monastery, convent, or hermitage. The household had a routine according to
high church principles and the
Book of Common Prayer. Fiercely denounced by the
Puritans and denounced as "Protestant Nunnery" and as an "
Arminian heresy", Little Gidding was attacked in a 1641 pamphlet entitled "The Arminian Nunnery". The fame of the Ferrars and the Little Gidding community spread and they attracted visitors.
King Charles I visited three times, including on 2 May 1646 seeking refuge after the
Cavalier defeat at the
Battle of Naseby. The community ended when its last member died in 1657. Although the Ferrar community remained a part of the Anglican
ethos (
Bishop Francis Turner composed a memoir of Nicholas Ferrar prior to his death in 1700), not until the mid-nineteenth century with the
Oxford Movement and the revival of Anglican religious orders did
Little Gidding reach the consciousness of the average Anglican parishioner. Since that time, interest in such community life has grown, and not been limited to members of the
Anglican Communion. According to
ascetical theologian Martin Thornton, much of the appeal is due to Nicholas Ferrar and the Little Gidding community's exemplifying the lack of rigidity (representing the best Anglicanism's
via media can offer) and "common-sense simplicity", coupled with "pastoral warmth", which are traceable to the origins of Christianity. Between 1841 and 1855, several religious orders for women were begun, among them the
Community of St Mary the Virgin at
Wantage and the
Society of Saint Margaret at East Grinstead. Religious orders for men appeared later, beginning in 1866 with the
Society of St. John the Evangelist or "Cowley Fathers". In North America, the founding of Anglican religious orders began in 1842 with the
Nashotah Community for men in
Wisconsin, followed in 1845 by the Sisterhood of the Holy Communion under
Anne Ayres in
New York. In recent decades, religious orders have been remarkably grown in other parts of the Anglican Communion, most notably in
Tanzania,
South Africa, the
Solomon Islands,
Vanuatu, and
Papua New Guinea. About 2,400 monks and nuns are currently in the Anglican communion, about 55% of whom are women and 45% of whom are men.
Restoration During the three centuries from dissolution to restoration some views expressed a desire for the restoration of the religious life within Anglicanism. In 1829 the poet
Robert Southey, in his
Colloquies (cxiii.), trusts that “thirty years hence this reproach also may be effaced, and England may have its
Beguines and its
Sisters of mercy. It is grievously in need of them.” Practical efforts were made in the religious households of
Nicholas Ferrar at
Little Gidding, 1625, and of
William Law at
King's Cliffe, 1743; and under
Charles II, says
Fr. Bede in his
Autobiography, “about 12 Protestant ladies of gentle birth and considerable means” founded a short-lived convent, with
William Sancroft, then
Dean of St Paul's, for director. Southey's appeal had weight, and before the thirty years had passed, compassion for the needs of the destitute in great cities, and the impulse of a strong Church revival, aroused a body of laymen, among whom were included
William Gladstone, Sir T. D. Acland, Mr A. J. Beresford-Hope, Lord Lyttelton and Lord John Manners (chairman), to exertions which restored sisterhoods to the Church of England. On 26 March 1845 the Park Village Community was set on foot in Regent's Park, London, to minister to the poor population of St Pancras. The “Rule” was compiled by
Edward Pusey, who also gave spiritual supervision. In the
Crimean War the superior and other sisters went out as nurses with
Florence Nightingale. The community afterwards united with the Devonport Sisters, founded by Miss Sellon in 1849, and together they form what is known as Ascot Priory. The St Thomas's sisterhood at Oxford commenced in 1847; and the mother-superior of the
Society of the Holy and Undivided Trinity Convent at Oxford,
Marian Hughes, dedicated herself before witnesses to such a life as early as 1841.
Activity Four sisterhoods stand together as the largest: those of
Clewer,
Wantage,
All Saints and
East Grinstead; and the work of the first may stand as a specimen of that of others. The
Community of St John Baptist at Clewer, near Windsor, arose in 1849 through the efforts of a Mrs Tennant and the vicar, afterwards warden of the society, the Revd
T. T. Carter, to save "
fallen women". Under the first superior,
Harriet Monsell, the numbers steadily grew and at the beginning of the 20th century were over 200. Their services to society and the church include six houses for "fallen women", seven orphanages, nine elementary and high schools and colleges, five hospitals, mission work in 13 parishes and visiting in several “married quarters” of barracks. Many of these are notable institutions and their labours extend over a wide area; two of the settlements are in India and two in the United States. A list of 26 sisterhoods is given in the
Official Year-Book of the C.E. (1900), to which may be added 10 institutions of deaconesses, many of whom live in community under a rule. In 1909 the number of women in religious orders in England was estimated as some 1300; whereas at the time of the dissolution under King Henry VIII there had only been 745. The
Episcopal Church of Scotland has three sisterhoods and they are found also in Toronto, Saint John the Divine; Brisbane, Sacred Advent. The
Year-Book (1911) of the
Episcopal Church of America mentions 18 American sisterhoods and seven deaconess homes and training colleges. Practically all Anglican sisterhoods originated in works of mercy and this largely accounts for the rapidity with which they have won their way to the good will and confidence of the
Church. Their number is believed to exceed 3,000, and the demand for their services is greater than the supply. Bishops are often their visitors, and
Church Congresses, Convocation and
Lambeth Conferences have given them encouragement and regulation. This change in sympathy, again, has gained a hearing from modern historians, who tend more and more to discredit the wholesale defamation of the dissolution period. This charitable activity, however, distinguishes the modern sister from the nuns of primitive and medieval times, who were cloistered and contemplative, and left external works to deaconesses, or to laywomen of a third order, or to the freer societies like the Beguines.
St Vincent de Paul is considered to have begun the new era with his institution of Sisters of Charity in 1634 . Another modern feature is the fuller recognition of family ties: Rule 29 of the Clewer sisters directs that the sisters shall have free intercourse with relations, who may visit them at any time. But in most essential respects modern sisterhoods follow the ancient traditions. They devote themselves to the
celibate life, have property in common, and observe a common rule of prayer, fellowship and work. Government is by a sister superior, assisted by various officers. The warden and
chaplain are clergy, and the visitor is commonly a bishop. ==Types of orders and communities==