SISTERHOOD OF ST. JOHN BAPTIST CLEWER.
Rules of the Sisterhood, 1855.

MANUSCRIPT NUMBER 040 

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CITATION: Sisterhood of St. John Baptist Clewer Rules of the Sisterhood, MSS 040, Archives and Manuscripts Dept., Pitts Theology Library, Emory University. 

The House of Mercy in Clewer was founded on June 19, 1849, by Mrs. Tennant, the widow of a clergyman of the Church of England. Converting her home into a "Penitentiary," Mrs. Tennant was joined in her work, in the "moral and spiritual restoration of fallen women," by other ladies of the Church of England. These ladies formed a religious community, known as a Sisterhood, devoted to working among the "Penitents." Although their primary concern was for the work among the young women, the Sisters expanded their work to the care of the sick, infirm, and orphans by the mid-1850s. Their orphanage became known as St. John's Home. 

The Rules of the Sisterhood of St. John Baptist, Clewer, a handwritten, illuminated manuscript, prescribes the duties and manner in which the Sisters were to conduct their spiritual and daily lives. Thirty-six pages long, the rules governed many aspects of the Sisters' lives including their relationships to one another, to the inmates or penitents, and to the children; recreation; and the hours they were to keep. The rules also include the duties and requirements for acceptance into the community, of t he inmates, the Sisters, and the Associates, those ladies who lived in their own homes, but, also worked in or gave aid to the House.

See also:
Carter, Thomas Thelluson
The First Five Years of the House of Mercy, Clewer. Second edition. London: Joseph Masters, 1856. [Special Collections, 1856 CART]

 --- The First Ten Years of the House of Mercy, Clewer. London: Joseph Masters, 1861. [Special Collections, 1861 CART]

House of Mercy (Clewer, Berkshire). Report of the House of Mercy, Clewer, for the Year Ending March 31, 1890. Windsor: Thomas Luff, 1890. [Special Collections, 1890 HOUS]