SISTERHOODS. Communities of women in the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, or ganized for religious and charitable purposes. The origin and growth of the principle which gave rise to these organizations has been de scribed under MONASTICISM. The earlier com munities for women were nearly always out growths of an earlier institute for men, after which their organization was closely modeled; these 'second Orders' for women exist, for ex ample, under the rules of the Benedictine, Cis tercian, Dominican, and Franciscan Orders. They were, until the seventeenth century, nearly al ways inclosed or cloistered communities.
With the development of modern society and the increase of security for the weak, their field of activity was much widened, and they began to take energetic part in active charitable work among the poor, the sick, and the ignorant. Taking new foundations. of those established in the sixteenth century 13 were active and 10 con templative, but in the seventeenth 54 active and only 12 contemplative Orders were organized.
The more important Roman Catholic sister hoods will be found treated under their own titles. About the middle of the nineteenth cen tury a strong movement developed among non Catholics, both in England and Germany, for the organization of women's work in the same fields. In the latter country it developed chiefly a class known as deaconesses (q.v.) ; but in Eng land the movement: coinciding with the Trac tarian revival of the older doctrine and customs. had assumed a form practically identical with that already described. After one or two tenta tive efforts in London (1845) and Oxford (1847), the thing took definite root with the foundation of the community at Devonport in 184S by Miss Lydia Sellon, under the advice of Dr. Pusey. Its
members, known as Sisters of Mercy, were bound by no vows except one of obedience to the su perior while they remained connected with it. Three years earlier Dr. Muhlenberg had estab lished the Sisters of the Holy Communion in New York. These had no fixed costume, were re quired to be between 25 and 40 years old, and it was understood that they might leave the sisterhood at their own pleasure. This com munity was placed in charge of Saint Luke's Hospital, which Dr. Mffilenlierg founded. Since that date numerous Organizations of the kind have grown up both in England and America, and have proved useful auxiliaries to the clergy in their work among the poor and de graded. The later ones usually follow the model of the Roman Catholic sisterhoods. have the same ideals of life, and follow the same practices, in cluding the daily recitation of offices at the canonical hours. In 1903, besides some com munities of deaconesses, there were 21 organiza tions of this kind in the United States. At this date there were I IS Roman Catholic sisterhoods laboring in the same country, many of them having numerous houses in different sections. Consult: Littledale, Papers on Sisterhoods (Lon don, 1874-78) ; Goodman, Sisterhoods in the Church of England (lb.. 1863) : Potter. Sister hoods and Deaconesses (New York. 1S73) : and, for the growth of the Roman Catholic communi ties, the bibliography under MONASTICISM.