Sisterly Love: Women of Note in Pennsylvania History

Sisterly Love: Women of Note in Pennsylvania History is a collection of biographical sketches of women who have made or are making significant contributions to Pennsylvania history. The authors of each chapter span across several disciplines and colleges in the Philadelphia area through SEPCHE, the Southeast Pennsylvania Consortium of Higher Education. In these essays you will meet artists, political leaders, entrepreneurs, teachers, computer experts, environmentalists, abolitionists, and more. Some of these women are well-known; many are not. Yet each has helped to shape the state of Pennsylvania in compelling and meaningful ways.

• Language: English
• Publisher: RowmanLittlefield
• Release date: Oct 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9780761864691

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Sisterly Love

Women of Note in Pennsylvania History

Edited by

Marie A. Conn and Thérèse McGuire

Hamilton Books

An Imprint of

Rowman & Littlefield

Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK

Copyright © 2015 by Hamilton Books

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All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014947758

ISBN: 978-0-7618-6468-4 (paper : alk. paper)—ISBN: 978-0-7618-6469-1 (electronic)

™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

This collection is dedicated in a special way to

Thérèse McGuire, SSJ, PhD

Artist, Scholar, Author, Jewelry and Scenery Designer, Colleague, Friend

In Honor Of

Bob, Kelsey and Anders,

with love and thanks

Barbara Crawford

Michael Markowitz,

Vice-President for Academic Affairs,

Holy Family University

Sr. Maureen McGarrity, CSFN,

President, Holy Family University

Ruth O’Neill, SSJ

In Memory Of

Alice and Ira Conn

Regis Duffy, OFM

Foreword

This collection of essays, Sisterly Love: Women of Note in Pennsylvania History, represents a singular collaboration among authors from a group of eight institutions of higher education that form The Southeastern Pennsylvania Consortium for Higher Education (SEPCHE). Established in 1998 for the express purpose of enhancing the technology of the libraries at each institution, the collaborative has grown into a successful, far-reaching organization that invites active participation among the administrators, faculty, and staff on a variety of projects aimed at better serving our students and reducing costs. This publication marks the first collaborative publication with contributions from faculty representative of the SEPCHE schools.

It seems most appropriate that this initial effort focuses exclusively on women of note. One of the interesting facts about the founding members of SEPCHE is that all eight colleges were led by women presidents! The natural inclination of women to work with one another for the benefit of students and the betterment of the institutions they served certainly was one of the factors responsible for the success SEPCHE enjoys. This collaborative has been built upon the dreams, convictions, generosity, and diligence of hard-working, committed women; thus it seems serendipitous that this first publication celebrates the accomplishments of prominent women of Pennsylvania.

Further, the publication of this book is testimony to the uniqueness of a consortium that persistently pursues avenues for collaboration. In an age when the competition for a decreased number of high school graduates is particularly intense, the existence of a committed group of colleges and universities that, despite their very real competition on one level, work diligently to promote the common good of all is a reality not only to be admired by the academic community, but imitated. Forging professional connections among faculty, who are intent upon the completion of joint projects, is a positive step towards an evolving cooperation and teamwork that enhances the programs of all eight institutions.

Sisterly Love casts an admiring, respectful, penetrating look at Pennsylvania women worth noticing and brings to the reader’s attention individuals who have often escaped the analytical gaze of historians. Intent upon telling his story, hers has frequently gone without comment. What is especially appealing about this publication is that it not only provides reflection upon recognizable names, but it also surfaces the identity of hidden women whose contributions deserve and merit attention. These essays evoke amazement, wonder, and pride in women who were anything but ordinary, but who went so quietly about their work that they escaped notice. Shining a spotlight on their achievements not only highlights how extraordinary they were, but also serves as inspiration for the reader to reach beyond the routine to discover in the status quo the magic that is there for the taking.

In their essay on Mary Brooks Picken, essayists Kathryn West and Patrick McCauley quote a passage from Virginia Woolf that seems saliently fitting when considering the subjects of this new publication. These few lines frame the accomplishments of the women in these essays and provide a backdrop upon which to analyze their achievements.

In A Room of One’s Own, Woolf ponders how a gifted, insightful, brilliant woman, whose talents are downplayed, ignored, even belittled, might feel when forbidden to develop her mind through education and reading. She writes:

She was as adventurous, as imaginative, as agog to see the world as [her brother] was. But she was not sent to school. She had no chance of learning grammar and logic, let alone of reading Horace and Virgil. . . . Her parents came in and told her to mend the stockings or mind the stew and not moon about with books and papers. . . . For it needs little skill in psychology to be sure that a highly gifted girl who had tried to use her gift for poetry would have been so thwarted and hindered by other people, so tortured and pulled asunder by her own contrary instincts that she would have lost her health and sanity . . . [but she lives] in you and in me, and in many other women who are not here tonight, for they are washing up the dishes and putting the children to bed . . . but she lives . . . [She needs] only the opportunity. (1929, 57)

Woolf well articulates the plight of women both past and present. For centuries, a host of women and girls longed to give birth to the intellectual and creative life that surged within them. They hungered to fill their minds with knowledge and their hands with meaningful work. Today, too many girls and women around this planet still find themselves restrained by outdated traditions and unjust laws. The wonder is that so many, both past and present, are able to seize or fashion opportunities to express and direct the productive energy within them that refuses to be stilled by convention.

In an inviting, interesting, readable, sometimes, almost conversational style, the essayists who have contributed to Sisterly Love: Women of Note in Pennsylvania History give voice to stories well worth reading and introduce women well worth knowing.

Carol Jean Vale, SSJ, Ph.D.

President, Chestnut Hill College

Chair, Presidents’ Council, SEPCHE

What Is SEPCHE?

The authors in this collection of essays are all connected to SEPCHE, a consortium of colleges and universities in the Philadelphia area. The collaboration displayed here is representative of the mission and goals of SEPCHE.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Consortium for Higher Education (SEPCHE) is a vibrant testament to the collaborative vision of eight remarkable women presidents, each leading colleges and universities known today as Arcadia University, Cabrini College, Chestnut Hill College, Gwynedd Mercy University, Holy Family University, Immaculata University, Neumann University and Rosemont College. Incorporated in 1998 as a non-profit organization, SEPCHE retains its original mission—to enhance the quality and efficiency of academic programming, student access, institutional operations and community outreach at the members’ colleges through inter-institutional cooperation and technological linkages. Over two decades, member collaborations have spanned academic and administrative areas to include cross-registration and shared coursework, collaborative academic research and shared professional development. SEPCHE’s focus on teaching and learning reflects an historic shared commitment to social justice—preparing exceptional graduates who are not only skillful and knowledgeable problem solvers, but who are also self-aware, reflective, ethical and fully integrated in their intellectual and personal capacities.

Elizabeth Moy

Executive Director, SEPCHE

Introduction

A few years ago, a friend from Scranton gave me a map-like publication entitled, Notable Women of Northeast Pennsylvania. Apparently, the plan was to produce one of these maps for each region of the state, but, to my knowledge, no other ever appeared. The idea for the current collection of essays was born at that moment.

The essays in this collection provide sketches of women who made or who are making significant contributions to Pennsylvania history. The women included here represent a variety of fields. Some of our women are well-known; many are not. Each, in her own way, helped to shape Pennsylvania in significant and meaningful ways.

In these pages you will meet artists, essayists, educators, computer experts, activists for the homeless and for environmental issues, entrepreneurs, religious leaders, abolitionists, and political leaders. Our women also span the history of Pennsylvania chronologically, from our early decades to the present day. The authors themselves are diverse, representing several different disciplines as well as representing colleges and universities in the Philadelphia area as members of SEPCHE, the Southeast Pennsylvania Consortium of Higher Education.

It is our hope that this collection will not only be enjoyable for its readers, but that it will also spark an interest that leads to discovering other women. Surely there are enough women of note in Pennsylvania history to fill several more volumes like this one.

Thanks are due to several people for the successful completion of this project. Barbara Crawford once again worked her computer magic; without her, there would be no book. S. Ruth O’Neill, SSJ, once again was a careful and generous outside reader. Elizabeth Moy, Executive Director of SEPCHE, was enthusiastic in her support of this project, as was S. Carol Jean Vale, SSJ, PhD, president of my institution, Chestnut Hill College. And I would like to give special thanks to all the authors included here. Their meticulous research, and their obvious love and respect for the women of whom they wrote, made the entire process a joy.

Marie Conn

Chapter 1

Anna Johanna Piesch Seidel, Influential Moravian

Catherine Looker, SSJ

Preliminary Considerations

Nestled in the text of her heartfelt Memoirs which have become part of a collection of classic first-hand accounts of women’s experiences in the Moravian tradition in North America,[1] Anna Johanna Piesch Seidel reflects on her twenty-one-and-a-half years of partnership with her beloved husband, Nathaniel, in these words: Through all mistakes and shortcomings our hearts did remain faithful in intent. We had no other goal or purpose other than the Saviour and His business. Through this we loved each other tenderly and shared joy and pain together.[2] Inspired by her utter focus on the Saviour and His business, the work of this essay seeks to explore the dimensions of sisterly love offered by Anna Johanna Piesch Seidel, particularly through the aspects of her formative work with the Single Sisters’ Choir.[3]

By way of overview, Anna’s Memoirs give evidence that she had indeed pondered and engaged life’s challenges in light of her evolving relationship with Christ in the context of her transformative life journey.[4] Anna Johanna Piesch was born in Berthelsdorf, Germany, in 1726, and before her marriage to Nathaniel Seidel in 1760, Anna was named as General Eldress of the Single Sisters’ Choirs worldwide at the age of twenty-one. After her marriage to Seidel at the age of 35, she focused her work more particularly on behalf of the Moravian settlement in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, particularly since Nathaniel had been "assigned the office of American oeconomat, the highest office in the entire American Province."[5] Thus, in her own right and as Nathaniel’s wife, Anna was one of the most powerful Moravian women in eighteenth-century America since she was highly respected in Bethlehem and central to the functioning of the Moravian community and congregation. After her husband’s death in May of 1782, Anna then entered the Widows’ Choir in Bethlehem. She died at the age of 63 on April 11, 1788.

In order for the work of this essay to move forward, four aspects of the spiritual journey will serve to frame a deeper consideration of the sisterly love exhibited by Anna Johanna Piesch Seidel in the Christian context of her Moravian tradition. These spiritual aspects are as follows: (1) Desire; (2) Presence; (3) Discernment; and (4) Devotion. As Peter Vogt rightfully observes regarding the context of the Moravian spiritual tradition: Like other pietistic groups, the Moravians placed great stock in spiritual experiences, both that of the individual and that of the community. Faith, in their view, was not so much a matter of the external, given teachings of the church as of the internal, experienced religious perceptions and emotions of the individual.[6] While emphasis will be placed on Seidel’s Pennsylvania experiences in light of this Moravian spiritual understanding, the fuller global context of her Moravian tradition will likewise be seamlessly threaded through the work of this essay. For as Craig Atwood rightfully observes regarding the Moravian settlement in Bethlehem, PA: "Bethlehem is important because it was part of an international, interdenominational religious fellowship called the Brudergemeine. The residents of Bethlehem stayed in regular contact with their religious brothers and sisters in Germany, England, the Baltic, and the Caribbean through letters, reports, and personal visits."[7] Finally, some concluding remarks on the ongoing capacity of Anna Johanna Piesch Seidel to serve as a spiritual mentor and soul sister for our time will be offered.

Desire

As Beverly Prior Smaby rightly points out: Moravian female piety was strongest during the 1750’s, the decade before Zinzendorf’s death. The surviving records which best reflect this period are those kept by the Single Sisters’ Choir in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.[8] By way of historical backdrop, it is important to note that Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700–1760) had previously offered the Moravians refuge on his east German estate in Berthelsdorf in Upper Saxony in 1722. From this asylum of safety in their growing village of Herrnhut and with the vision of Zinzendorf’s spiritual leadership, the Moravian refugees [eventually] renewed their church in a swell of religious rebirth, establishing many settlements in Western Europe, in Greenland, and in North and South America. Their evangelical program drew hundreds of converts, young and old, male and female.[9] At its peak of leadership during the 1740’s and 1750’s, female piety among Moravians included the appointment of women to religious governing boards, worship services for women often led by women, and themes that featured Christ as husband, Mary as the medium through which Christ became human, and the Holy Spirit as Mother.[10] Zinzendorf had both power and license to introduce among Moravians a number of practices and theological innovations that were unusual in other Protestant churches, including the creation of substantial leadership roles for women.[11] Unfortunately for the women, Moravian leaders after Zinzendorf’s death in 1860 sought to dismantle this extensive level of feminine leadership in the Moravian communities. As Beverly Smaby demonstrates: This remarkable effort to reduce women’s power was a reflection of the Moravians’ increasing concern about how they appeared to the outside world, a world in which women’s independence and leadership was regarded by men with disapproval.[12] In particular, Anna Johanna Piesch Seidel felt the burden of the loss of Zinzendorf’s great support for women’s roles when she acknowledges: Otherwise I had no joy at all, only distress, and I cried many, many tears.[13]

In particular, the Moravian Single Sisters actively embraced female piety,[14] and this was rooted in the core beliefs espoused by all Moravians where life’s most important goal was an intense, personal relationship with Christ.[15] More specifically, Jesus’ Sidehole became a symbol of his sacrifice, a place of refuge, and a source of nurture.[16] Regarding the spiritual growth of individuals, Beverly Smaby aptly describes how each Moravian was assigned to a ‘Choir,’ a group of people who shared age, gender, and marital status. Each Choir practiced its particular form of Moravian piety, focusing on the aspects of Christianity deemed most suited to its members.[17] Since Anna Johanna Piesch had been appointed as the caretaker and leader of the Single Sisters’ Choir beginning at the age of nineteen, she was responsible for overseeing the spiritual tenor of the celebrations which were to reflect the Single Sisters’ covenant in terms of marriage with Christ. He was a ‘blood bridegroom’ and an ‘eternal husband.’ They were ‘chosen maids of the Lamb,’ ‘maidens very much in love,’ and ‘brides in his sidewound.’ They possessed ‘completely faithful hearts’ and ‘burning hearts towards their blood bridegroom.’[18] As a result of this degree of female piety, the Single Sisters wanted to have their desires filled while being ‘held in a conjugal embrace by their husband,’ [as] they sensed His ‘intimate closeness,’ and felt His ‘embracing’ and ‘kissing.’[19] During their yearly Choir Festival held on May 4, the Sisters were awakened by the sounds of citterns and hymns. The rest of the day was filled to the brim with ceremonies, including a general Morning Benediction, A Choir Morning Benediction, a Choir Homily, a Choir Liturgy, a special mid-day Choir meal, a Choir Lovefeast, and a Choir Communion.[20]

Presence

Remembering that Anna Johanna Piesch had been named the leader of the Single Sisters’ Choir at the age of nineteen, it is also important to note that Anna was subsequently named as the General Eldress for all Single Sisters’ Choirs on May 4, 1747, at the age of twenty-one. Regarding the title sister, Peter Vogt accurately points out: For Moravian women the designation ‘sister’ denoted a sense of equality and autonomy insofar as their social status was not defined exclusively in terms of a subordinating relationship to a man such as wife or daughter.[21] Anna’s presence to the Single Sisters included the following aspects of spiritual ministry: (1) ordaining deaconesses; (2) giving sermons in the worship services held by Single Sisters’ Choirs, and (3) holding interviews (Speakings) with individual sisters before upcoming Communion celebrations in order to evaluate their spiritual condition.[22] As noted, after Anna married Nathaniel Seidel in 1760, they together assumed joint leadership of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Beverly Smaby aptly describes this spiritual partnership: Together they led this settlement through its difficult transition from a purely communal economy [1740–ca.1762] into a largely private one. [Anna herself] described their efforts as a ‘difficult piece of work . . . that caused my good husband and me many sleepless nights.’[23]

In the spirit of Count Zinzendorf, the Savior could best be understood by the Single Sisters through Mary, whose body was the vessel through which he became human. The Single Sisters could identify with the Incarnation because Mary had been a virgin.[24] Anna’s ministry to the Single Sisters in Bethlehem, PA, had previously begun in October of 1752 when she travelled with a group of Single Sisters aboard the Irene and they arrived safely and well preserved in Bethlehem on November 24, where we were received with much joy and experienced the grace of enjoying Holy Communion with the congregation on that same evening.[25] Anna’s intimate level of ministry with the souls of her Sisters give evidence that Zinzendorf had believed women would understand the spiritual problems of women better than men. And because only these new female spiritual leaders understood the condition of the Sisters’ souls, they needed to participate on the governing boards in each Moravian settlement, in the central governing body of the Church, and in synods, to give reports about their work with the Sisters.[26]

Discernment

Since Anna Johanna Piesch was so devoted and committed to her ministry among the members of the Single Sisters’ Choir in whatever geographic area she found herself, it is important to note that one of her roles involved her facilitation of a process of discernment with the young unmarried women under her care. Each month the designated choir leaders "interviewed every Sister under their care, a process called ‘speaking’ [Sprechen]. On the basis of these intimate conversations, they decided which Sisters were spiritually suited to taking communion that month and which were not."[27] The speaking had its origins with Count Zinzendorf himself and then later the choir helpers.[28] What later became available in written form as the Instructions developed as a manual for spiritual counselors on how to guide men, women, adolescents, and children through the speakings.[29] Basically, in these sessions where readiness to take communion was discerned, the choir helper was most importantly to provide a theological context in which to redirect the concerns of the individual to a focus on Christ.[30]

What Anna Johanna Piesch advocated in this practice was to underscore the Moravian notion that the human being is not divided into the realms of mind/body/spirit, but rather is to be considered holistically. . . . [Thus,] the ‘speakings’ should be taken into consideration as an important form of communication within the Moravian communities and a crucial factor in the process of shaping conceptions of self, identity, and Christ’s presence in the world.[31] With the highly visible role of the choir leaders in mind, particularly through such a formative practice with the choir members as the speakings, Moravian scholar Katherine Faull rightly points out: Only recently has the organization of the church into ‘choirs’ been recognized as the fundamental principle that allowed women and girls incomparable positions of influence and leadership.[32] As Anna well knew from her own role as Choir leader from the age of nineteen onward, these speakings were designed to help each individual choir member come to a realization and personal experience of a Moravian spiritualized corporeality. By means of regular and intimate personal conversations, each member of the choir received careful and explicit pastoral care and advice on disparate topics.[33] It was an important task of the choir helper "to get to know the ‘Herzenszustand’ (or ‘heart’s condition’) of each Sister as well as possible, for ‘experience shows us that there are many different conditions of the heart as there are illnesses of the body’ and that the choir helper had to pay attention to each individual sister’s condition.[34] Such discernment was deemed to be essential for a Moravian Single Sister’s spirituality to be established on such a ‘firm foundation’ and a personal relationship with the Savior based on a consciousness of grace and forgiveness.[35] Anna’s role as Choir leader, particularly during the process of the speakings, truly helps to illustrate the administrative and spiritual responsibilities Zinzendorf accorded Moravian women. A niece of Anna Nitschmann, the leading woman in the Moravian Church of the eighteenth-century, Piesch played significant roles in the Moravian Church in her own right."[36]

Deemed as important for our deeper understanding of the pastoral nature of the ministry of Anna Johanna Piesch as Choir leader, the following summation of the speakings offered by Katherine Faull can be instructive:

The Moravian speakings constitute a singular example of the praxis of eighteenth-century pastoral care. Quite breathtaking in its simplicity and honesty . . . the speakings offer the choir helpers an opportunity to understand the workings of Christ within what would seem to be the most practical. . . . All pain, physical or emotional, was compared to Jesus’ on the Cross; all anguish could be alleviated by Jesus, all physicality understood in the context of service to God.[37]

Most importantly, the practice of the speakings helped each person to cultivate a deeper noticing and discernment of interior movement, particularly since each Moravian progressed from Choir to Choir during one’s lifetime as one dealt with oneself through the medium of dealing with the Savior.[38] Thus, the compelling question was, in essence: Am I close to or far from the Savior? Generally, there was self-doubt when the relationship was experienced as ‘troubled’ and self-assurance when it was experienced as ‘intact.’[39] Perhaps some may liken this process of the speakings to what is known in our time as soul care or spiritual guidance. As contemporary spiritual writer, William Barry, suggests: The major role of the spiritual director is, namely, to help directees pay attention to their experience as the locus of their encounter with God. Moreover, directors and directees need not confine themselves to discussion of formal prayer . . . we can say that any experience can be examined to discover the mysterious Other whom we call God.[40] It can indeed be conceived that Anna Johanna Piesch effectively served in this capacity of spiritual guide for the unmmarried women whom she mentored in the Single Sisters’ Choir, as the practice of the speakings encouraged the necessary spiritual prerequisite of the simplicity of heart [that] was considered the most direct path to awakening and to divine grace.[41] This level of conversation as part of life in the Moravian choirs was considered to be a more intimate form of discourse . . . [as it] sought to facilitate the spiritual development of the individual member, and, including aspects of counseling, exhortation, and hearing confessions.[42] Most importantly, the primary purpose of such religious conversation, however, was to assist people in coming to a personal experience of Christ and maintaining a vital relationship with him.[43]

Devotion

The aspect of devotion as an essential component of the spiritual journey for Anna Johanna Piesch and her companion Moravian practitioners, can be effectively illustrated by the three rituals of the Lovefeast, Footwashing, and Communion. First, as a key ritual celebration of consciousness for the well-being of one’s neighbor, particularly during the period of the General Economy in Bethlehem, the Lovefeast was simply a meal shared in common, but it differed from a regular meal in that it was a liturgical action.[44] Throughout the ritual