SISTERHOODS (MODERN ANGLICAN). The dissolution of religious houses in England (1536-1540) under Henry VIII. swept away more than 140 nunneries, and the Anglican Church was left without sisterhoods for three centuries. But as these had for goo years formed part of her system, there were protests from time to time and attempts at restoration. Amongst such protests, which generally dwelt a good deal on the want of pro vision for unmarried women, may be mentioned three in successive centuries. The historian Fuller would have been glad "if such feminine foundations had still continued," only without vows (Bk. vi.). Richardson the novelist, in Sir Charles Grandison, wishes there could be a Protestant nunnery in every county, "with a truly worthy divine, at the appointment of the bishop of the diocese, to direct and animate the devotion of such a society"; in 1829 the poet 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." Also small practical efforts were made in the reli gious households of Nicholas Ferrar at Little Gidding, 1625, and of William Law at King's Cliffe, ; and under Charles II., says Fr. Bede "about 12 Protestant ladies of gentle birth and considerable means" founded a shortlived convent, with 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 Mr. 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 March 26th, 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 Dr. 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 Holy Trinity Convent at Oxford, Marian Hughes, dedicated herself before witnesses to such a life as early as 1841 (Liddon's Life of Dr. Pusey, Practically all Anglican sisterhoods originated in works of mercy, and this fact largely accounts for the rapidity with which they have won their way to the good will and confidence of the Church. 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. 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.
In one important regard there has been hesitation, and authori ties like Dr. Littledale and Bishop Grafton contend strongly for the primitive ideal of the convent as family, with a constitutional government, as against the later and widespread Jesuit ideal of the convent as regiment, with a theory of absolute rule and obedience. On the other hand, the doctrine of obedience itself, as applied to Anglican Sisterhoods, is subject to the atmosphere of free institutions and a respect for individuals which are them selves correctives of any possible dangers, inherent in the principle.