Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross

The Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross is a diverse group of more than 800 women, both laywomen and clergy, single and partnered. Founded in 1884 by Emily Malbone Morgan in the United States, the Society welcomes women from any church with whom the Episcopal Church is in communion: the Anglican Communion, the Moravian Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ECLA).

Companions are called to live under a rule of intercessory prayer, thanksgiving, and simplicity of life, seeking to live a life of obedience to Christ in the company of others. Connected to one another by the Companion Prayer Chain and the Intercession Paper sent to all Companions monthly, we focus our prayers on the needs of individuals and families known to Companions around the world as well as on our concerns for the unity of all God’s people, God’s mission in the world, social justice, and peace and reconciliation.

The life of the Society revolves around 35 chapters in the United States and India, as well as the Society’s retreat and conference center, Adelynrood, in Byfield, Massachusetts. Companions organize regional and national conferences on an array of topics from spiritual direction to interfaith collaboration for peace and social justice. The Society broke new ground in engaging women of diverse nations and contexts through the 2014 Anglican Women at Prayer conference. Companions are now exploring ways to use the Internet to foster prayer and friendship across the world. Many women have first come to know about the Society through reading about the lives and work of two of our early leaders, Emily Malbone Morgan and Vida Dutton Scudder who are part of the Episcopal calendar of saints in Holy Women, Holy Men.

In 1884, Emily Malbone Morgan, inspired by her invalid friend, Adelyn Howard, drew up rules and aims for daily use by a group of women envisioned as Companions of the Holy Cross. Later that year, seven women under the leadership of Miss Morgan organized themselves as the Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross. Drawn to monastic practice like many Episcopal women of their time, the Companions developed a unique vocation for active lives in the secular world, grounding their work for social justice in daily prayer. Early Companions included several leaders in the settlement house movement. Renowned Christian socialist Vida Dutton Scudder helped to shape the ministries of generations of Companions as Companion-in-Charge of Probationers for thirty-five years.

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