An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church

Church Training and Deaconess House of the Diocese of Pennsylvania

The second training school for deaconesses in the Episcopal Church. It opened in Jan., 1891, in Philadelphia. It had a two-year course of study for women desiring to be deaconesses. In 1939 the school became the Department of Women of the Divinity School in Philadelphia. As the Department of Women, it trained women as deaconesses, directors of religious education, missionaries, and parish workers. It offered a two-year program leading to a certificate and a three-year program leading to a Th.B. degree. The Department of Women went out of existence in 1950.

Glossary definitions provided courtesy of Church Publishing Incorporated, New York, NY,(All Rights reserved) from “An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church, A User Friendly Reference for Episcopalians,” Don S. Armentrout and Robert Boak Slocum, editors.