The first continuity in the history of nursing began with Christianity. Christ’s teachings admonished people to love and care for their neighbors. With the establishment of churches in the Christian era, groups were organized as orders whose primary concern was to care for the sick, the poor, orphans, widows, the aged, slaves, and prisoners, all in the name of charity and Christian love. Christ’s precepts placed women and men on parity, and the early church made both men and women deacons, with equal rank. Unmarried women had unprecedented opportunities for service. Although these opportunities represented positive changes, they also fostered certain limitations. Because nursing developed an image closely tied to religion and religious orders, strict discipline was expected. Absolute attendance to the orders of persons of higher rank (eg, priests or physicians) was demanded. This view of nursing as requiring a strict obedience, a sense of religious devotion, and an altruistic setting aside of one’s own needs has also affected nursing. Nurses were thought to be so devoted to patients that worldly concerns such as salary and working conditions were of no consequence.
THE DEACONESSES
The deaconesses of the Eastern Christian Church represent one group of particular significance to the history of nursing. Required to be unmarried or widowed, these women were often the widows or daughters of Roman officials, and thus had breeding, culture, wealth, and social position. The deaconess, like the deacon, was ordained, and, as a church official, worked on an equal basis with the deacon. These dedicated young women practiced “works of mercy” that included feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the imprisoned, sheltering the homeless, caring for the sick, and burying the dead. Often cited as the earliest counterparts to the community health nurses of today, the deaconesses carried a basket (a forerunner of the contemporary visiting nurse’s bag) when they entered homes to distribute food and medicine. Phoebe, frequently referred to as the first deaconess and first visiting nurse, is often mentioned in books about nursing history. She carried Paul’s letters and cared for him and many others. In the Epistle to the Romans, dated about 58 A.D., reference is made to Phoebe and to her work.
THE WIDOWS AND THE VIRGINS
Two other groups—the Order of Widows and the Order of Virgins—shared many common characteristics with the deaconesses and carried out similar responsibilities. Members of the Order of Widows may never have been married. It seems that the title of widow was used to designate respect for age. Those who were married, however, took vows never to remarry if widowed. The Order of Virgins emphasized virginity as essential to purity of life, and virgins were ranked as equals to the clergy. Because these women often visited the sick in their homes, they are often mentioned along with the deaconesses as being the earliest organized group of public health nurses. The movement peaked in Constantinople in about 400 A.D., when a staff of 40 deaconesses lived and worked under the direction of Olympia, a powerful and deeply religious deaconess. The influence of the deaconess order diminished in the 5th and 6th centuries, when church decrees removed clerical duties and rank from the deaconess.
Although the position of deaconess originated in the Eastern Christian Church, it spread west to Gaul (an ancient region in Western Europe consisting of what is now mainly France, Belgium and a section of northern Italy) and Ireland. In Rome, women who served in comparable positions were known as matrons. Active during the 4th and 5th centuries, these Roman matrons held independent positions and had great wealth, which they contributed to charity and to nursing. Among these Christian converts were three women who contributed significantly to nursing. Their stories are told in Display 4-1. Later, the deaconess movement, suppressed by the Western Church, became all but extinct.
THE DEACONESSES
The deaconesses of the Eastern Christian Church represent one group of particular significance to the history of nursing. Required to be unmarried or widowed, these women were often the widows or daughters of Roman officials, and thus had breeding, culture, wealth, and social position. The deaconess, like the deacon, was ordained, and, as a church official, worked on an equal basis with the deacon. These dedicated young women practiced “works of mercy” that included feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the imprisoned, sheltering the homeless, caring for the sick, and burying the dead. Often cited as the earliest counterparts to the community health nurses of today, the deaconesses carried a basket (a forerunner of the contemporary visiting nurse’s bag) when they entered homes to distribute food and medicine. Phoebe, frequently referred to as the first deaconess and first visiting nurse, is often mentioned in books about nursing history. She carried Paul’s letters and cared for him and many others. In the Epistle to the Romans, dated about 58 A.D., reference is made to Phoebe and to her work.
THE WIDOWS AND THE VIRGINS
Two other groups—the Order of Widows and the Order of Virgins—shared many common characteristics with the deaconesses and carried out similar responsibilities. Members of the Order of Widows may never have been married. It seems that the title of widow was used to designate respect for age. Those who were married, however, took vows never to remarry if widowed. The Order of Virgins emphasized virginity as essential to purity of life, and virgins were ranked as equals to the clergy. Because these women often visited the sick in their homes, they are often mentioned along with the deaconesses as being the earliest organized group of public health nurses. The movement peaked in Constantinople in about 400 A.D., when a staff of 40 deaconesses lived and worked under the direction of Olympia, a powerful and deeply religious deaconess. The influence of the deaconess order diminished in the 5th and 6th centuries, when church decrees removed clerical duties and rank from the deaconess.
Although the position of deaconess originated in the Eastern Christian Church, it spread west to Gaul (an ancient region in Western Europe consisting of what is now mainly France, Belgium and a section of northern Italy) and Ireland. In Rome, women who served in comparable positions were known as matrons. Active during the 4th and 5th centuries, these Roman matrons held independent positions and had great wealth, which they contributed to charity and to nursing. Among these Christian converts were three women who contributed significantly to nursing. Their stories are told in Display 4-1. Later, the deaconess movement, suppressed by the Western Church, became all but extinct.
Leave a Reply