The revival of religious orders in the mid-nineteenth century opened up a field of Christian ministry for women distinct from previous types of church work, which had been voluntary, part-time, and necessarily limited by contemporary identification of women with the domestic sphere. The Deaconess Movement posed a threat to the accepted gender order of Victorian society, creating new spheres of activity and roles of authority for women outside the home.

This volume, bringing together documents on the Movement from a variety of unpublished archives, offers an introduction to a neglected aspect of women's involvement in official Church ministry through the women's own voices. It provides a coherent illustration of the circumstances which fostered the revival of an ancient order of ministry for women, through the first-hand experience of some of the individuals who were involved in the early years. Socially divisive, theologically controversial, the claims of women to be part of an order analogous to that of the male diaconate formed the basis of their active participation in the ecclesiastical hierarchy right up to the present day.