Mother Edith 			May 24
Founder of the Community of the Sacred Name
Christchurch
Edith Mary Mellish was born on the island of Mauritius on 10 March 1861 to Edward and Ellen Mellish. Her father was a banker and businessman in Australia and then in Mauritius from 1859. Later he was stationed in China and England, where Edith attended a boarding school. Edith’s mother died when she was two, and Edward’s second wife, Sarah Waterworth, had been a CMS missionary. She encouraged Edith’s religious development, and Edith wanted to be a missionary. As the oldest child, Edith took on the responsibilities of helping with the children of her father’s second and third marriages. Only when the children were old enough could she follow her own plans. First of all she undertook some parish work. Then, seeking training, she joined the Deaconess Community of St Andrew, London, in 1881 and became a deaconess in 1891.
The nineteenth century witnessed the emergence of new roles for women in society. In the Church of England this was reflected in the re-establishment of the order of deaconesses and in the growth of religious communities for women. Deaconesses tended to work in parishes, but the religious communities were more independent. These two strands over-lapped, as can be seen in the Deaconess Community of St Andrew.
The same year in which Edith became a deaconess, the bishop of Christchurch (Churchill Julius) wrote to the bishop of London (Frederick Temple), asking that a sister be made available for work in the Christchurch Diocese. Bishop Temple agreed to the request, provided that the sister who was sent should build up a community for other women workers. Emerging social problems in Christchurch had led a number of women to express an interest in church work and in forming a community. In January 1892 Bishop Julius admitted Frances Torlesse, Mary Anne Vousden and Mary Pursey as probationary deaconesses. Other women shared in the work done and were to become the nucleus of the first religious community in New Zealand.
In 1893 Churchill Julius attended the Lambeth Conference and followed up his request to Frederick Temple. Sister Edith was chosen to go to New Zealand and establish the community. She arrived in Christchurch in August 1893. The members of the community were heavily involved in ministry to women in Christchurch and beyond from their base in Gloucester Street. They soon moved to George Street, and then in 1895 to Barbadoes Street. The sisters worked with unmarried women, cared for orphans, taught, did church embroidery, visited hospitals and prisons, as well as developing community life.
Things were far from easy for these women, and the community grew slowly under difficult circumstances. The original name of the community was “The Sisters of Bethany”, a name chosen by Sister Edith. In 1911 the name was changed to “The Community of the Sacred Name”, as there had been another group called “The Sisters of Bethany” in London since 1866. It was from 1911 that Sister Edith was called Mother Edith.
Mother Edith’s outstanding characteristics were generosity, compassion, humility, fearlessness, and a loving concern for all. For her nothing was too difficult. She had a capacity for work that was unbounded, and a multitude of activities and varied works were carried on under her leadership as the community grew. Although some Anglicans in Christchurch regarded the community with suspicion as “popish”, the sisters won wide admiration for their work. Mother Edith had some very strong and definite views about the position of women in the world and in the church. She could blaze out at injustice or contempt shown to girls or women, especially the weak and defenceless.
All the original members of the community were deaconesses, but the emphasis gradually shifted more and more to the religious life of prayer and the conduct of quiet days and retreats. Mother Edith maintained that the root of the religious life is the worship and service of God in prayer, meditation and self-sacrifice. As the links with the original deaconess order faded, Mother Edith took great trouble over the structure and patterns of the order along the lines of a traditional religious community.
Mother Edith had not enjoyed good health, and in 1915 she travelled to England to take a complete break and to see her family. She also took the opportunity to note developments in women’s religious orders in Britain. She put some of these into practice after her return in 1916 in her revision of the rule of the order and of the statutes governing it. Mother Edith died on 25 May 1922.
For Liturgical Use
Mother Edith was born on 10 March 1861. She was chosen from the Deaconess Community of St Andrew, London, to answer the call of Bishop Churchill Julius of Christchurch for a sister to work in his diocese. She arrived in Christchurch in 1893 to find a small group of dedicated probationer deaconesses ready to form a community. Originally called “The Sisters of Bethany”, they became “The Community of the Sacred Name” in 1911. Mother Edith’s outstanding characteristics were compassion, humility, fearlessness and a loving concern for all. For her nothing was too difficult. She died on 25 May 1922.
Sentence
If we love one another God lives in us, and God’s love is perfected in us.	1 John 4:12
Collects
Everliving God, 
we thank you for Mother Edith 
and the community she founded;
give us grace to love you above all things
and each other in you,
that we may care for those in need
and faithfully sing your praise;
this we ask 
in the sacred name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Jesus, you promise that when two or three of us 
are gathered in your name, you will be there;
we praise you for Edith,
who left behind all that she loved
to found a community to serve in your name;
you have blessed her sisters greatly,
bless them now, we pray, and into the time ahead.
Psalms	20	96
Readings
1 Samuel 1:21-28		Hannah’s faith and devotion
Philippians 3:7-11		Loss and gain
Mark 9:33-41		In Jesus’ name
Post Communion Sentence
If we have died with Christ, we will also live with him, if we endure, we will also reign with him.		2 Timothy 1:11,12