SISTERS AND SAINTS SISTERS AND SAINTS Women and American Religion ANN BRAUDE 1 2008 3 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offi ces in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © 2001, 2008 First published in hardcover as Women and American Religion (2000). Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Braude, Ann. Sisters and Saints : women and American religion / Ann Braude. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-19-533309-1 (pbk.) 1. Women and religion—United States—History. 2. United States—Religion. I. Title. BL458.B67 2007 200.82'0973—dc22 2007026765 Frontispiece: Herminia Villaescusa holds a candle, a missal, a rosary, and white fl owers in honor of the Virgin for her First Communion in a Mexican Catholic church in 1932. In many communities young girls are still dressed like brides for their fi rst participation in the sacrament. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper For my grandmother, Vicci Sperry This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS INTRODUCTION “Women Are the Backbone of the Church” 1 CHAPTER ONE Planting Religious Households 4 CHAPTER TWO When the Spirit Moves Women 28 CHAPTER THREE Mothers and Daughters Maintain the Home 48 CHAPTER FOUR Organized Womanhood 69 CHAPTER FIVE Old Faiths in New Times 94 CHRONOLOGY 121 FURTHER READING 124 INDEX 128 This page intentionally left blank INTRODUCTION “Women Are the Backbone of the Church” A n old saying among members of African-American churches can be applied to most religious groups in the United States: “Women are the backbone of the church.” The saying has a double meaning. Women provide essential sup- port for the church and affi rm its moral role, but their work happens in the background and their support is invisible. It is the men who play the leading roles in religious organizations. As a result, most people assume that women have had little importance in U.S. religious history. Few groups had women as leaders before the 1970s, and the largest ones still do not. Men administered the sacraments, wrote the prayer books, preached the sermons, and made the decisions. Throughout American history, however, women have been the majority of members in almost all religious groups. There could be no lone man in the pulpit without the mass of women who fi ll the pews. Women raised money for churches, syna- gogues, temples, and mosques through bake sales, community suppers, and sewing circles. They embroidered altar cloths, 1