Anne Ayers, religious and founder of the Sisterhood of the Holy Communion, was born in London, England in 1816 and moved to New York City with her parents in 1845. While working as a teacher to supplement the family income, Ayers heard a sermon on "Jephtha's Vow" by William Augustus Muhlenberg and discerned a call to a life of religious service. On All Saints Day, November 1, 1845, Sister Anne was formally consecrated a "sister of the Holy Communion" by Muhlenberg in a private ceremony.
Anne Ayers purused her vocation to the religious life at a time when there were no existing sisterhoods in the Episcopal Church or the Church of England. "So far as it was known, not a single sister had been professed anywhere in the Anglica Communion for nearly three hundred years,"(1) and there was considerable public opinion against it. Yet two contemporary religious movements~the deaconess movement in Germany and the Oxford Movement of the 1830s and 40s paved the way for the revival of sisterhoods. A few women who joined Sister Anne were formally organized into the Sisterhood of the Holy Communion in 1852. The order remained active until 1940.
Sister Anne was William Augusts Muhlenberg's primary collaborator and, under their leadership, the Sisterhood of the Holy Communion embarked on a variety of ministries. These included teaching, social work among the poor, and perhaps most notably, nursing and hospital administration. From 1858 to 1877, Ayers directed both nursing and hospital administration. From 1858 to 1877, Ayers directed both nursing and housekeeping at St. Luke's Hospital in New York City, originally founded by Muhlenberg. In 1865 the two founded St. Johnland on Long Island, a facility for the rural poor, orphaned, homeless, and handicapped. Though some of her sisters found Ayers' leadership to be autocratic, her zeal for the religious life and service to the sick and needy was unquestionable. She died in New York City at St. Luke's Hospital in 1896.
In contrast to Roman Catholic orders, the Sisterhood of the Holy Communion took no lifetime vows, but rather, pledged themselves to three-year, renewable, terms. Members of the Sisterhood of the Holy Communion also wore a prescribed form of secular dress rather than religious habits, refrained from marriage during their term of service, and lived under the direction of the "First Sister," rather than under a formal rule of life.
Many of Anne Ayers' writings are linked to her long ministry with Muhlenberg. She published Evangelical Sisterhoods (1867), Evangelical Catholic Papers (1875-77), and The Life and Work of William Augustus Muhlenberg (1880). Practical Thoughts on Sisterhoods, was published anonymously in 1864 and is Ayers' reply to a letter from a friend anxious "to see some way of enlisting the more earnest of our unmarried women to co-operate in such labors with better system and efficiency than has hitherto, to any extent, been found among us."(2) Written while Anne Ayers labored under the pressures of her multiple responsibilities at St. Luke's Hospital, she conveys her thoughts on the possibilities for women called to lives of service.
Notes
1. Boone Porter, Jr. Sister Anne: Pioneer in Women's Work (New York: National Council, 1960):6
2. [Anne Ayers], Practical Thoughts on Sisterhoods: In Reply to a Letter of Inquiry (New York, T. Whhittaker, 1864): iii