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Anglican religious order

This article is about active religious orders. For orders which have closed, seeFormer religious orders in the Anglican Communion.

Anglican religious ordersare communities of men or women (or in some cases mixed communities of men and women) in theAnglican Communionwho live under a common rule of life. The members ofreligious orderstakevowswhich often include the traditional monastic vows ofpoverty,chastityandobedience,or the ancient vow of stability, or sometimes a modern interpretation of some or all of these vows. Members may belaityorclergy,but most commonly include a mixture of both. They lead a common life of work and prayer, sometimes on a single site, sometimes spread over multiple locations. Though many Anglicans are members of religious orders recognized by the Anglican Communion, others may be members of ecumenical Protestant or Old Catholic religious orders while maintaining their Anglican identity and parochial membership in Anglican churches.

Anglican novices in South Africa.

Titles

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Members of religious communities may be known as monks or nuns, particularly in those communities which require their members to live permanently in one location; they may be known as friars or sisters, a term used particularly (though not exclusively) by religious orders whose members are more active in the wider community, often living in smaller groups. Amongst the friars and sisters the term mendicant is sometimes applied to orders whose members are geographically mobile, frequently moving between different small community houses. Brother and Sister are common forms of address across all the communities. The titles Father and Mother or Reverend Father and Reverend Mother are commonly applied to the leader of a community, or sometimes more generally to all members who have been ordained as priests. In the Benedictine tradition the formal titles Right Reverend and Very Reverend are sometimes applied to theAbbot(leader) andPrior(deputy leader) of the community.[a]Benedictine communities sometimes apply the titles Dom and Dame to professed male and female members, rather than Brother and Sister.

History

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Overview

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Religious orders were dissolved byKing Henry VIIIwhen he separated theChurch of Englandfrom papal primacy. In 1626,Nicholas Ferrar,a protegé ofWilliam Laud(1573–1645), with his family established theLittle Gidding community.Since there was no formal Rule (such as theRule 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 tohigh churchprinciples and theBook of Common Prayer.Fiercely denounced by thePuritansand denounced as "Protestant Nunnery" and as an "Arminian heresy",Little Gidding was attacked in a 1641 pamphlet entitled" The Arminian Nunnery ".[1]The fame of the Ferrars and the Little Gidding community spread and they attracted visitors.King Charles Ivisited three times, including on 2 May 1646 seeking refuge after theCavalierdefeat at theBattle of Naseby.The community ended when its last member died in 1657.

Although the Ferrar community remained a part of the Anglicanethos(Bishop Francis Turnercomposed a memoir of Nicholas Ferrar prior to his death in 1700),[2]not until the mid-nineteenth century with theOxford Movementand the revival of Anglican religious orders didLittle Giddingreach the consciousness of the average Anglican parishioner. Since that time, interest in the community has grown and not been limited to members of theAnglican Communion.According toascetical theologianMartin 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'svia mediacan offer) and "common-sense simplicity", coupled with "pastoral warmth", which are traceable to the origins of Christianity.[3]

Between 1841 and 1855, several religious orders for women were begun, among them theCommunity of St Mary the VirginatWantageand theSociety of Saint Margaretat East Grinstead. Religious orders for men appeared later, beginning in 1866 with theSociety of St. John the Evangelistor "Cowley Fathers". In North America, the founding of Anglican religious orders began in 1842 with theNashotah Communityfor men inWisconsin,followed in 1845 by the Sisterhood of the Holy Communion underAnne AyresinNew York.

In recent decades, religious orders have been remarkably grown in other parts of the Anglican Communion, most notably inTanzania,South Africa,theSolomon Islands,Vanuatu,andPapua 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.[4]

Restoration

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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 poetRobert Southey,in hisColloquies(cxiii.), trusts that “thirty years hence this reproach also may be effaced, and England may have itsBeguinesand itsSisters of mercy.It is grievously in need of them.”

Practical efforts were made in the religious households ofNicholas FerraratLittle Gidding,1625, and ofWilliam LawatKing's Cliffe,1743; and underCharles II,saysFr. Bede[clarification needed]in hisAutobiography,“about 12 Protestant ladies of gentle birth and considerable means” founded a short-lived convent, withWilliam Sancroft,thenDean 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 includedWilliam 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 byEdward Pusey,who also gave spiritual supervision. In theCrimean Warthe superior and other sisters went out as nurses withFlorence 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 theSociety of the Holy and Undivided TrinityConvent at Oxford,Marian Hughes,dedicated herself before witnesses to such a life as early as 1841.[5]

Activity

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Four sisterhoods stand together as the largest: those ofClewer,Wantage,All SaintsandEast Grinstead;and the work of the first may stand as a specimen of that of others. TheCommunity of St John Baptistat Clewer, near Windsor, arose in 1849 through the efforts of a Mrs Tennant and the vicar, afterwards warden of the society, the RevdT. 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 theOfficial 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.[6]

TheEpiscopal Church of Scotlandhas three sisterhoods and they are found also in Toronto, Saint John the Divine; Brisbane, Sacred Advent. TheYear-Book(1911) of theEpiscopal Church of Americamentions 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 theChurch.Their number is believed to exceed 3,000, and the demand for their services is greater than the supply. Bishops are often their visitors, andChurch Congresses,Convocation andLambeth Conferenceshave 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 Paulis 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 thecelibatelife, 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 andchaplainare clergy, and the visitor is commonly a bishop.

Types of orders and communities

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Whilst there is no single central authority for all religious orders, and many member churches of the Anglican Communion have their own internal structures for recognizing and regulating religious orders, some central functions are performed by the Anglican Religious Communities department atChurch House, Westminster,the headquarters of theChurch of England,Church Commissioners,General Synod,Archbishops' Council,andNational Society.This department publishes the bi-annualAnglican Religious Life,a world directory of religious orders, and also maintains an official Anglican Communion website for religious orders.Anglican Religious Lifedefines four categories of community.[7]

Traditional celibate religious orders and communities
Orders and communities in which members take a vow of celibacy (amongst other vows) and follow a common Rule of life. They may be enclosed and contemplative or open and engaged in apostolic works.
Dispersed communities
These are orders or communities whose members, whilst taking vows (including celibacy), do not live together in community. In most cases the members are self-supporting and live alone, but follow the same Rule of life, and meet together frequently in assemblies often known as "chapter meetings". In some cases some members may share a common life in very small groups of two or three.
Acknowledged communities
These communities live a traditional Christian life, including the taking of vows, but the traditional vows are adapted or changed. In many cases these communities admit both single and married persons as members, requiring celibacy on the part of those who are single, and unfailing commitment to their spouse on the part of married members. They also amend the vow of poverty, allowing personal possessions, but requiring high standards of tithing to the community and the wider church. These communities often have residential elements, but not full residential community life, as this would be incompatible with some elements of married family life.
Other communities
This group contains communities which are ecumenical (including Anglicans) or that belong to non-Anglican churches which have entered into relationships of full communion with Anglican churches (particularly, but not only, certain Lutheran churches).

In the United States of America, there is a clear distinction between "orders" and "communities", since theEpiscopal Churchhas its own two-fold definition of "religious orders" (equivalent to the first two groups above) and "Christian communities" (equivalent to the third group above).[b] TheAnglican Religious Lifedirectory affirms this, stating "This distinction in not used in other parts of the Anglican Communion where[the term]communitiesis also used for those who take traditional vows. "[8]

Anglican orders and interdenominational orders

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Some religious orders are unique to the Anglican Communion. Certain large orders, such as theSociety of Saint Margaretor theCommunity of the Sisters of the Church,are widespread and follow a rule of life written especially for the community. Other communities follow one of a number of historic rules predating the ecclesial divisions of theReformationera. These rules are followed by different orders which often have manifestations within different current Christian denominations, particularly (in most cases) Anglicanism, Roman Catholicism and Lutheranism and, in some cases, also Eastern Orthodoxy.

Augustinian orders

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Main article:Augustinian nuns in the Anglican Communion

There are a number of Anglican communities of nuns following the Rule ofSt Augustine of Hippo.This rule has a particular focus on making all of one's thoughts and speech God-centred. There is no central Augustinian administration beyond the common rule.

Benedictine orders

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Main article:Order of St. Benedict (Anglican)

The Benedictine order is active in all the Christian denominations mentioned above, including the Eastern Orthodox tradition. Within the Roman Catholic Church there is a centralBenedictine Confederation(notwithstanding the autonomy of each abbey) and the Anglican Benedictine orders maintain close relations with this central organisation (although without actual membership). The rule has a particular emphasis on community life, hospitality for strangers and achieving a proper balance of work, prayer and recreation.

Followers of the Rule of St. Benedict

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Communities that follow theRule of St. Benedict,but aren't part of the Order of St. Benedict, include theOrder of Saint Helena.

Carmelite orders

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The Carmelite Rule has found more limited use in the Anglican Communion than some others. TheCommunity of the Sisters of the Love of Godin Oxford, England, are heavily influenced by Carmelite spirituality and follow elements of the Carmelite Rule, but their rule also has many other influences. TheEpiscopal Carmel of Saint TeresainMarylandis a full expression of the Carmelite order and rule within Anglicanism, founded for that purpose with the support of the American House of Bishops. The sisters follow theDiscalced Carmeliterule and therefore use the post-nominal initials OCD.

Cistercian orders

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Main article:Anglican Cistercians

Although a number of cloistered Cistercian orders have been founded within Anglicanism, none has proved enduring. The longest Cistercian experiment was the community ofEwell Monastery(1966 to 2004). Some Anglican communities follow an adapted form of the Cistercian Rule and a single member of the former Ewell Monastery lived as a Cistercian solitary until 2022. Since 2010 there exists the Order ofAnglican Cistercianswho enjoy an ecumenical link with the Roman Catholic Cistercians.

Dominican orders

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TheAnglican Order of Preachersis a recognized "Christian Community" of the Episcopal Church in the United States and has spread to Canada, the United Kingdom and Europe, the Philippines, Australia and India. The friars and sisters live under a common rule of life and vows of simplicity, purity, and obedience. There are also Anglicans who are members of ecumenical and Old Catholic Dominican religious orders and priories.

TheOrder of Christ the Saviouris a dispersedDominicanOrder within the Episcopal Church, and an "Associate Community" of the National Association of Episcopal Christian Communities.[9][10]The Order is characterized by its unique blend ofThomisticscholarship and a dedicated focus ondeliverance ministryin the Anglican tradition. The Order embraces theRule of St. Augustine,guiding its members towards a life of prayer, community service, and frequent engagement with the sacraments. Membership in the Order is open to confirmed Anglican communicants in good standing and in communion with theSee of Canterbury.[11]

Franciscan orders

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Main article:Franciscan orders in the Anglican Communion

A number of Anglican religious orders follow the Rule ofSt Francis of Assisi,although theSociety of St. Francisis the largest and most widespread. The rule has a particular focus on poverty and identifying with the poor and the destitute as well as care of the environment and respect for all of creation.

Vincentian orders

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TheVincentian Familyof religious institutions founded by, or in the spirit of,Saint Vincent de Paul,is found within the Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions. In Anglicanism the main Vincentian Order for women is theSisters of Charity,and the main order for men is theCompany of Mission Priests.The rule has a particular emphasis on care for the poor and marginalised in society.

List of current orders

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The following is a list of the religious orders in the Anglican Communion with their initials and locations:

Orders of men

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  • Brotherhood of the Ascended Christ(BAC)India
  • Community of Our Lady & Saint JohnAlton Abbey (OSB)England
  • Community of the Resurrection(CR) England
  • Elmore Abbey(OSB) England
  • Little Brothers of Francis(LBF)Australia
  • Melanesian Brotherhood(MBH)Solomon Islands,Papua New Guinea,Vanuatu,the Philippines
  • Oratory of the Good Shepherd(OGS) England, Australia, United States,South Africa
  • Order of the Holy Cross(OHC) United States, Canada, South Africa
  • "Order of Saint Francis (OSF)".United States, Canada.
  • Saint Gregory's Abbey(OSB) United States
  • Society of the Sacred Mission(SSM) England, South Africa, Australia
  • Society of Saint Francis(SSF) England, United States, Australia,New Zealand,Brazil,Papua New Guinea,Solomon Islands
  • Society of St. John the Evangelist(SSJE) England, United States
  • Society of St. Paul (SSP) United States

Orders of women

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Mixed orders of men and women

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List of other communities

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In her autobiographical seriesCall the Midwife,British authorJennifer Worthportrayed her time working as a district nurse andmidwifein the East End of London in the late 1950s alongside theCommunity of St. John the Divine.In the books, and theBBCtelevisiondrama seriesof the same name, the order is renamed theSisters of St. Raymond Nonnatus.

The 1939novelBlack NarcissusbyRumer Goddenis about a group of Anglican Nuns (the Order of the Servants of Mary) who persist in trying to establish a religious community in the Palace of Mopu in theHimalayas,Nepal,despite the sisters feeling sexual repression and enduring forbidden love. Both the 1947 filmBlack Narcissusand the 2020miniseries of the same namewere adaptations of the book.

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  • Community of Saint Mary
  • Sisters of Bethany
  • Community of Saint Francis
  • Community of the Holy Name
  • Community of the Transfiguration
  • Order of Julian of Norwich
  • Order of the Holy Paraclete
  • Order of Saint Helena
  • Anglican novices in South Africa
  • Handmaids of Christ
  • Community of the Resurrection
  • Alton Abbey
  • The Community of St. John Baptist at Mendham, NJ

See also

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References

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  1. ^See, for example, the titles stated at:Alton Abbey websiteat theWayback Machine(archived April 30, 2012).
  2. ^ See Title III, Canon 24, sections 1 and 2 of theCanons of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America,also quoted at"Anglican Communion religious communities".communities.anglicancommunion.org.Archived fromthe originalon 21 February 2015.
  1. ^"The Arminian Nunnery".
  2. ^Ferrar 1837.
  3. ^Thornton 1963,p. 46-47, 116, 226.
  4. ^Anon 2007,p. 24.
  5. ^Liddon 1893,p. iii.
  6. ^Kelway, Clifton (1933)The Story of the Catholic Revival.London: Cope & Fenwick; p. 125 (citingDictionary of English Church History.1912)
  7. ^Dunstan 2011,pp. iii, iv, 19, 147, 151, & 171.
  8. ^Dunstan 2011,p. 151.
  9. ^"Communities".naecc.Retrieved2024-02-08.
  10. ^mmacdonald (2023-09-13)."New Anglo-Catholic Dominican Religious Community Founded in The Episcopal Church".Episcopal News Service.Retrieved2024-02-08.
  11. ^Saviour, Order of Christ the."About Us".Order of Christ the Saviour.Retrieved2024-02-08.
  12. ^"A sisterhood in Christ, empowerment through education!".Community of the Holy Family (communityoftheholyfamily.org).Retrieved2020-04-12.
  13. ^Robins 1939.

Further reading

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