COWLEY FATHERS, the name commonly given to the members of the Society of Mission Priests of St. John the Evan gelist, an Anglican religious community, the headquarters of which are in England, at Cowley St. John, close to Oxford. The society was founded in 1865 by the Rev. R. M. Benson "for the cultivation of a life dedicated to God according to the principles of poverty, chastity and obedience."