by this solemn adjuration, he laid his hand on her, and consecrated her Deaconess.'1 Through the mediation of Bishop Germanus, the king was induced to consent to the separation, and Rhadegund retired to Poitiers, where she founded a nunnery. She was not herself the Abbess, but lived as a simple nun, renowned for her saintliness, and consulted by the chief rulers of the State. She died in 587 A.D., and was buried with great honour by Gregory, Bishop of Tours, who wrote an account of her funeral.2 Her life was written by another of her friends, the poet-bishop Fortunatus. It seems clear from this whole story that Rhadegund sought the office of Deaconess simply as a protection from her husband. She could not be consecrated as a Virgin, and she feared that the mere assumption of the Widow's habit would not suffice. There was, as we have seen no consecration of Widows by a Bishop, hence she pressed for consecration as a Deaconess. Her biographers do not say that she fulfilled any diaconal functions, nor do they regard the office

1 Manu superposita consecravit diaconam. Acta Sanctorum, Aug. 13, p. 70.

2 Greg. Tur. De Gloria Confessorum, c. 106.

3 The second Counc. of Tours enacted that the simple change of garb denoting a solemn purpose of widowhood, was sufficient to guarantee the protection of the Church; but this would hardly hold good in the case of a married woman.

as conferring any special honour upon her. Rhadegund's admission to the diaconate took place in the year 544 A.D., eleven years after the Order had been condemned for the third time by the second Council of Orleans. It had thus, in spite of prohibitions, maintained its existence in Gaul for over a hundred years, but it is evident that at this time the office was becoming obsolete. The second Council of Tours, twenty-three years later, gives the title Diaconissa to the wives of the Deacons,1 which seems to show that the true Deaconess had disappeared. The Widow again takes her place. It is probably to this period that the before-mentioned statute belongs which orders Widows to be 'chosen for ministry at the baptism of women.'

1 It uses the terms episcopa, presbytera, diaconissa and subdiaconissa (can. xiii., xix.) For a similar use of some of these terms see the canons of the Counc. of Rome, 720 A.D.

HE insight which we have been able to obtain into the life of the Church in the fourth century has shown us that while she everywhere made use of the service of women, the form of their ministry differed widely in the East and in the West. We have seen that the female diaconate belonged at this time chiefly, if not exclusively, to the Eastern Church.

We have now to enquire what exactly was the position occupied by the Deaconess, and what were the services she rendered in the Early Church. Happily the answers to these questions are to be found in some of the early documents relating to ecclesiastical order and discipline which refer to this period.1

First, then, as to the duties of the Deaconess. The general principle is laid down at the outset in

1 Some account of these documents, and of their historical value, is given by Professor Robinson in Appendix A, where the extracts made in this chapter from the texts will be found.

the words of the Syriac Didascalia, which directs the Bishop to 'appoint Deacons: a man as for the doing of many things that are needed, and a woman as for the ministration to the women.' The work of the Deaconess lay primarily among those of her own sex, and her service was specially needed in the East, where women lived in greater seclusion than did their sisters in the West. The most important of the functions of the Deaconess was that which related to the administration of baptism. The rites connected with this sacrament were elaborate. Immersion was preceded by the anointing of the whole body. Where the candidates were women this ceremony was performed by the Deaconess. She also received them as they came up out of the water, and to her was committed their further instruction in the faith.

Another of her principal duties was the visitation of the women in their homes. These early ordinances state that 'to the houses of the heathen, where there are women that believe, it is required that a Deaconess should go in and visit those that are sick, and minister to them in whatsoever may be required for them.' Hospitals were unknown in those days, and nursing would probably occupy a considerable share of the Deaconess's time. She like the Deacon was also the Church's almoner, reporting

E

cases of distress to the Bishop, and distributing to each the ministration that is right.' In the case of women who were unable through sickness to attend the services of the Church, it was the duty of the Deaconess to take the consecrated bread and wine to them. No doubt much of the teaching of the women and children was entrusted to her, and she was the means of communication between them and the Bishop. The Apostolic Constitutions add to these duties that of doorkeeper in the Church. It was customary in the East for the men and women to occupy separate parts of the Church, and it is directed that 'the doorkeepers should stand at the entrance of the men to guard them, and the Deaconesses at those of the women,' ready to welcome strangers, and find places for them. This duty is referred to also in the epistle to the Antiochians falsely ascribed to Ignatius:1 the writer, after saluting all the other Church officials, continues, 'I greet the guardianesses of the holy gates, the Deaconesses in Christ.' There is no indication that they had at this time any other service within the Church, though at a later period we read of their cleansing the sanctuary, lighting the lamps,

1 Lightfoot, Ignat., vol. ii. p. 825 f. This epistle was probably written about the same time, if not by the same hand, as the final edition of the Apostolic Constitutions,