Anglican Religious Orders

• Formation: 1840–present
• Founders: various individuals and organizations

Anglican religious orders are formal organizations that include laypeople and/or clergy who live under a common rule in the Anglican Communion, the name given to the worldwide association of all affiliated Anglican churches. Such orders are different from Holy Orders, which is a sacrament received by bishops, priests, and deacons of the Anglican Church.

Members of Anglican orders take vows to try to imitate Jesus Christ. By doing so, they swear to lead lives of poverty, chastity, and obedience. They may also vow to obey an order’s guidelines for living.

According to the website of the Anglican Church, the Anglican religious orders are roughly the same as Roman Catholic religious orders. In other words, they are religious communities of various types that divide into formal orders and congregations. How do the two groups differ? Members of orders take solemn vows; members of congregations take simple vows. Or, in the words of the Anglican Communion’s website, "A Religious Order of this Church is a society of Christians (in communion with the See of Canterbury) who voluntarily commit themselves for life, or a term of years, to holding their possessions in common or in trust; to a celibate life in community; and obedience to their Rule and Constitution. . . . A Christian Community of this Church is a society of Christians (in communion with the See of Canterbury) who voluntarily commit themselves for life, or a term of years, in obedience to their Rule and Constitution" ("Religious Communities," Title III, Canon 24, sections 1–2).

History

In 1534 King Henry VIII of England dissolved the Roman Catholic religious orders in Great Britain when he separated the Anglican Church from Rome. Orders were not reintroduced to the Anglican Church until the early 1840s. In England, the first religious orders were begun for women, and they included the Community of St. Mary the Virgin and the Society of Saint Margaret. English orders for men did not resume until decades later, but in the United States, Anglican orders for men and women alike developed in the 1840s.

Pressing social need, particularly the desperate plight of the urban poor, triggered the resurrection of religious orders in the 1800s. Women in Anglican religious orders served as nurses who worked with Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War, and upon returning home, these nurses established care facilities for indigent patients in London and other cities. The movement in England was duplicated in North America.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, Anglican religious orders for women had established at least two hundred facilities that served their communities in England, the United States, and other nations. These facilities served as schools, hospitals, orphanages, homes for so-called fallen women, and missions. At the time, England listed twenty-six sisterhoods and another ten groups of deaconesses. The Episcopal Church of America (ECUSA) claimed eighteen sisterhoods, along with seven deaconess homes and training schools. There were three sisterhoods in Scotland as well as institutions in Canada, Australia, India, South Africa, and other countries. Almost all were founded to do works of charity and mercy.

Anglican orders have spread internationally, particularly in African and Southwestern Pacific nations. By 2024, ECUSA recognized eighteen traditional religious orders and fourteen faith communities, and nearly two dozen religious communities in the Western Hemisphere belonged to the Conference of Anglican Religious Orders in the Americas.

Beliefs and Practices

The primary work of all Anglican religious orders is mercy—that is, charitable service for the poor. This goal was the motive that led to the establishment of virtually all sisterhoods. The image of cloistered nuns or monks bears no resemblance to the activities of modern Anglican religious orders, but the impulse to aid others is the same as it was for the Sisters of Charity 400 years ago.

• As it is, most of the modern orders follow the traditions of their ancient forebears in the Roman Catholic Church. Those who have taken vows to become part of an order lead celibate lives of service and obedience. They follow a common rule of prayer, work, and fellowship, and they devote their lives to the service of others. Often, especially among the oldest and largest orders, members live according to rules that predate the Protestant Reformation, and it does not matter what Christian group they belong to—Anglicanism, Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism, or even Eastern Orthodoxy. These members all lead similar lives. In the 2010s, some Anglican religious even became Catholic, as parts of the wider Anglican Communion liberalized.

To the extent that a centralized authority for the Anglican religious orders exists, it comes from the official Anglican communion. Peta Dunstan’s book Anglican Religious Life, 2014–2015 defines four categories of Anglican community:

• Traditional Celibate Religious Orders and Communities: These are orders and communities in which members take a vow of celibacy, along with other vows (of poverty and obedience), and follow a common rule of life. Some of these orders are cloistered.
• Dispersed Communities: Members of these orders or communities have taken vows but do not live together in community. They follow the same rule of life but support themselves and live alone, sometimes in small groups of two or three.
• Acknowledged Communities: While these individuals take vows, those vows have been changed. Members may be single or married, and they may have personal possessions.
• Other Communities: This category is ecumenical—groups that may or may not be Anglican but that are deemed to be in full communion with Anglican churches. This is most often the case with Lutheran churches.

In the United States, orders and communities are clearly separated. The American Episcopal Church defines religious orders as traditional celibate orders and communities and dispersed communities—in other words, people who have taken traditional vows of celibacy, poverty, and obedience. Communities are the other two groups, acknowledged communities and other communities. This distinction does not apply anywhere else in the Anglican Communion.

In all cases, however, an active life of service is combined with an equal focus on prayer and worship. In this respect, the beliefs and practices of Anglican religious orders are the same as they were before the split from papal authority in 1534.

Bibliography

Berge, Clark. The Vows Book: Anglican Teaching on the Vow of Obedience, Poverty, and Chastity. Seattle: Amazon CreateSpace Publishing Platform, 2014. Print.

Dunlop, Sheila Smith. Some Suitable Women: A Study of an Anglican Religious Community for Women. Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2015. Print.

Dunstan, Peta. Labour of Obedience. London: Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd., 2009. Print.

Dunstan, Peta, ed. Anglican Religious Life 2014–2015: A Yearbook of Religious Orders and Communities in the Anglican Communion and Tertiaries, Oblates, Associates and Companions. Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2013. Print.

Heyes, Sister Monica Mary. Women of Devotion: History of an Anglican Religious Community. Wilmington: Orange Frazer, 2014. Print.

Mumm, Susan. Stolen Daughters, Virgin Mothers: Anglican Sisterhoods in Victorian Britain. New York: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2001. Print.

"Religious Communities." Anglican Communion, n.d. Web. 5 Aug. 2015.

"Religious Orders." Anglicans Online, Society of Archbishop Justus, anglicansonline.org/resources/orders.html. Accessed 25 Oct. 2024.

Sisterhood of St. John the Divine. A Journey Just Begun: The Story of an Anglican Sisterhood. Toronto: Dundurn, 2015. Print.

Wilkinson, Alan. The Community of Resurrection. London: Hymns Ancient & Modern, LTD, 2011. Print.