Deaconesses in Europe

J >> Jane M. Bancroft >> Deaconesses in Europe

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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."

[90] _Der Diakonissenberuf nach seiner Vergangenheit und Gegenwart._
Emil Wacker, Guetersloh, 1888, p. 196.
[91] 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.
[92] Theodor Fliedner, _Kurzer Abriss seines Lebens_. Kaiserswerth,
1886, p. 60.
[93] _The Bitter Cry of Outcast London_, pp. 3-10.
[94] _Modern Cities_, by S. L. Loomis, New York, 1887, pp. 88, 89.

CHAPTER XV.

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 Church[95] 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?"[96]

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."[97]

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."[98]

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."[99]

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."

[95] _Die Diakonissenberuf nach seine Vergangenheit und gegenwart._
Emil Wacker. Guetersloh, 1888, chap. vi.
[96] _Modern Cities._ S. L. Loomis, The Baker & Taylor Co., New York,
1887, p. 192.
[97] _Deaconesses in the Church of England_, Griffith & Farran, 1880,
p. 31.
[98] _The American Commonwealth_, James Bryce. MacMillan & Co., 1889,
vol. ii, pp. 586, 589.
[99] _Phoebe die Diakonissen_, p. 8.

NOTE.

YEARLY 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 Caesarea, 231.
Beghards, The, 37.
Beguines, 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, 110, 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.
Charite, La, 100.
Charlotte, Sister, 75.
Charteris, A. H., 190, 192, 201.
Chicago, Ill., 73, 243-245.
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 Haerter, 93; Muelhausen, parish deaconesses, 95;
Berlin servants, 99; Bethany House, 102; Dettelsau, Berne,
Sophie Wurdemberger, 103; Saint Loup, Pastor Germond, 104;
Riehen, Zuerich, 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.
Creche, 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.
Doellinger, 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.
Duesseldorf, 56.
Duesselthal, 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:
Kloenne, 46; Amalie Sieveking, 47; Count von der Recke, 49;
Theodor Fliedner, 50; Idstein, Giessen, Goettingen, 51;
Herborn, Cologne, Kaiserswerth, 52; collecting money, 53;
Elizabeth Fry, 55; Prison Society, Frederika Muenster, 56;
convict Minna, refuge, 57; Fraeulein Goebel, 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, Zuerich, 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.
Goebel, 59.
Gottestreue, or God's Fidelity, 117.
Goettingen, University, 51.
Greece, 108.
Greek Church, 24.
Groot, Gerhard, 37, 38.
Guinness, Grattan, 160.

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