"In community of property": Anglican sisters and episcopal authority in Natal 1887-1937

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between the Society of St John the Divine, an Anglican sisterhood which was founded in Pietermaritzburg in 1887, and the bishops of Natal, in the context of the work of the community in the diocese of Natal and the developments in monastic life in the Church of England, which had implications for religious communities throughout the Anglican Communion.1 The article shows that the sisterhood enjoyed considerable freedom from episcopal control in carrying out their various works in childcare, parochial work and education in Natal. However, this freedom also meant that the sisters received no money from the diocese, but raised funds to support this work themselves. Their independence also reflected that of religious communities in England, where the Church of England bishops had no canonical or legal control over Anglican religious communities. In the 1930s, however, bishops in the Church of England set up structures to bring the Anglican religious communities under episcopal authority, and these measures were also adopted by the Society of St John the Divine in Natal.