y which the aid of women was not so indispensable, and
especially the fact that since the time of Constantine the care of the
sick and poor was placed under the charge of the State.[17]

These causes combined removed from the life of the Church a powerful
agency for good, and for centuries deprived it of the pre-eminent gifts
of ministration which belong to Christian women.

[5] _Woman's Work in the Church_, J. M. Ludlow, p. 21.
[6] _Die Weibliche Diakonie in ihrem ganzen Umfang_, Theodor Schaefer,
3 vols. Stuttgart: D. Gundert, 1887. Vol. i, p. 45.
[7] _Der Diakonissenberuf nach seiner Vergangenheit und Gegenwart_,
Emil Wacker. Guetersloh: E. Bertelman, 1888. p. 33.
[8] Neander, _Hist. of Chr. Religion and Church_, vol. i, p. 188;
Schaff, _Hist. of Chr. Church_, vol. iii, p. 260; McClintock &
Strong's _Encyclopaedia_, art. "Deaconesses."
[9] J. M. Ludlow, _Woman's Work in the Church_, p. 17.
[10] Neander, _Hist. of Chr. Rel. and Church_, vol. i, p. 188; Schaff,
_Hist. of Chr. Church_, vol. iii, p. 260.
[11] _Sancti Johannis Chrysostomi opera om_, t. ii, pp. 659, 662.
Paris, 1842.
[12] Chrys., _Op._, vol. ii, p. 658.
[13] _Die Weibliche Diakonie_, Theodor Schaefer, vol. i, p. 8.
[14] Chrys., _Op._, vol. ii, p. 600.
[15] Schaff's _History of Chr. Church_, vol. iii, p. 260.
[16] _Denkschrift zur Jubelfeier_, J. Disselhoff, Kaiserswerth, 1880,
p. 5.
[17] Herzog's _Protestantische Real Enc._, vol. iii, p. 589.

CHAPTER III.

DEACONESSES FROM THE TWELFTH TO THE NINETEENTH
CENTURIES.

During these seven centuries whenever there arose a reviving spirit of
true love to God, whether within the Church of Rome or in any of the
churches formed from reforming elements that separated from it, then we
find traces of the diaconate of woman assuming some form of devotion to
Christ and work for him. One of these movements well worth our study
originated in Belgium while the last of the Greek deaconesses were still
daily walking the arched pathway that led to their church in
Constantinople. Toward the close of the twelfth century great corruption
of morals and open abuses prevailed in society, and also in the Church.
One of those who protested against the evils of the times was the priest
Lambert le Begue, as he was called, meaning the stutterer. He lived at
Liege, in Belgium, and just without the city walls owned a large garden.
He determin