The Society of the All Saints’ Sisters of the Poor was founded in London on S. Luke’s Day, October 18th, 1851, when Miss Harriett Brownlow Bryon “left the world” and took a house in London, near the Church of All Saints in Margaret Street, and under the direction of the Rev. Upton Richards, Vicar of S. Margaret’s, began to live the Religious Life. Here she lived, taking care of three invalid women and two orphan children, doing all of her own work, and begging a livelihood from both friends and strangers. Here she gave herself to prayer and to good works; here she studied the Fathers of the Church and kept a very definite rule of life; here she made a daily meditation and recited the seven Canonical Hours. During the next few years she was joined by other like-minded women, since the revival of the Religious Life in the English Church was at this time very much in the thoughts of Dr. Pusey and other leaders of the Oxford Movement, and by the end of 1859 it was possible to draw up a formal Rule and Constitution for the new Order of Nuns. The Rule was based on the Augustinian model, and many of the early customs of the Society were learned from Convents in Paris, which the Mother Foundress visited during the years of her preparation. The Mother House on Margaret Street was thoroughly conventual from the beginning, and from this spiritual center the Sisters undertook all kinds of charitable work in and about London. They were pioneers in hospital work and in training nurses, out later saw that it was God’s will for them to give themselves mainly to institutional and parish work, and to such other charities as were not incompatible with the regular life and the solemn recitation of the Divine Office.
In 1873 the Rev. Joseph Richey, Rector of Mount Calvary Church in Baltimore invited the All Saints’ Sisters to come to the United States and undertake the Parish Mission work in Mt. Calvary. Soon after this they were invited to do the same in S. Clement’s Church, Philadelphia, and began their Mission work here during the days of the Cowley ;Fathers. As the Society grew in this country, it was arranged that the American Novices should be trained in this country, and the American House became a separate congregation. In 1917 a Country Home for Children in Orange Grove, outside of Baltimore, with its land and equipment was given to the Sisters, and on this ground the present Convent was built and dedicated by the Bishop of Maryland on May 4th, 1922. Since the property has been originally a home for children, the sisters felt they ought in some way to continue a work there specifically for children, so an adjoining cottage was purchased and enlarged for a Children’s Convalescent Home, which was the beginning of the present S. Gabriel’s. This Home is now on the Convent grounds, and is the only institutional work in which the Community is engaged in Baltimore.
About 1915 the Community retired from active Mission work in the two Parishes where they had for so long a time been identified, and left both Mount Calvary Church in Baltimore and S. Clement’s Church in Philadelphia. As their Baltimore activity is now confined to S. Gabriel’s Convalescent Home for Girls at Orange Grove, so their Philadelphia activity is found exclusively at S. Anna’s Home for Aged Women, situated at 2016, Race Street. While S. Anna’s Horne is situated within the Parish boundaries of S. Clement’s Church, and its Chapel Altar is licensed by the Bishop under the direction of the Rector of S. Clement’s Church, and while the Rev. Father Rector is Chaplain of S. Anna’s Home, yet it is in no way officially connected with the Parish. Members of S. Clement’s are guests in the Home; women of S. Clement’s Congregation are on the Board of Associates; and men of the Parish are members of the Corporation, but it is in no sense a Parish institution. The Horne receives women from any Parish in the Diocese and beyond it, and has no means of support except that which it derives from its “paying” guests, from money raised by the Associates, and from the small income drawn from a few legacies which the Sisters have received for the benefit of S. Anna’s Home. There is room in S. Anna’s Home for eighteen guests, and at this moment it is in charge of three Sisters. The general routine is along the lines of every Religious House; the Chapel bell marks the hours, and the public rooms have the atmosphere of the Convent. But the rooms of the guests are furnished with their own belongings, and the parlour, where they congregate for social intercourse and tea, is most comfortably and attractively furnished. If you have never visited S. Anna’s Home, you will be given a most hearty welcome. The Sisters and the guests are anxious to have new friends both for themselves and for the Home.
The Associates of S. Anna’s Home are women from many Parishes in the Diocese, who by an annual appeal, teas, garden fetes, card parties, and other ingenuities, raise a considerable sum of money each year to supplement the small income of the Home. They also provide outings for the guests at S. Anna’s, bring frequent entertainments to the Home for their pleasure, and arrange a monthly “afternoon at home,” when the residents are ready to receive their friends with a cup of tea.
The House on Race Street is an old house, requiring many repairs and much bolstering up to keep it habitable. The time has come when thought must be given to a new S. Anna’s. It must be in the City, and we hope it will remain in this neighbourhood. Plans to launch a drive for funds for building a new house are under advisement. Write S. Anna’s in your will. Pray for the Sisters, their life and work, and if it be God’s will, that they may receive some new members. And be sure to remember them at Mass on S. Luke’s Day, October 18th, when they will be celebrating their One Hundredth Birthday, and completing their first hundred years as a Community dedicated to the Service of God and their fellow-men.
—S. Clement’s Quarterly (Philadelphia), Autumn, 1951, Vol. XV, No. 4, pp. 27-28
Richard Mammana 