The Lay Sisters of Saint John of Jerusalem

Abstract

Women who associated themselves with the Hospital of Saint John during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries had a growing number of options. They could take vows as fully professed sisters and join a commandery with brothers or, from the 1180s, a priory of sisters. Or they could remain lay and associate as consorores or donats. Like their male counterparts, female lay associates were not fully professed and therefore had a lesser status in the Hospital and usually did not live in a Hospitaller house. However, we should not dismiss their importance. Depending on their social status, they could have had considerable influence on the Hospital, though often in an unofficial capacity, and they could have been important politically because of their wealth and connections. In some cases, lay sisters greatly enhanced the Hospital’s charitable and spiritual standing.¹ We should also remember that, although they were not fully Hospitallers, they were part of the spiritual family of the Hospital of Saint John and shared in its merit.