Theodor Fliedner

[2] When the town could no longer support church and ministry due to an economic crisis, he undertook journeys to collect donations.

[2] In England he met with English social reformer, Elizabeth Fry, who demonstrated her work among her nation's impoverished and imprisoned people.

He began by working among inmates at the Düsseldorf Prison, preaching the Gospel and ministering to spiritual and physical needs.

Fliedner realized that the first step must be toward looking after the prisoners on their release, and accordingly, in 1833, he opened at Kaiserswerth a refuge for discharged female convicts.

Following somewhat the model of the early Christian Church's diaconate, incorporating ideas learned from Fry and the Mennonites, and applying his own thoughts, Fliedner developed a plan whereby young women would find and care for the needy sick.

Deaconesses took vows to care for their poor and sick charges, but they could leave their work and return to outside life if they so chose.

[6] After his wife, Friederike, died in 1842, he found a new life companion (and important employee) in Caroline Bertheau.

They opened institutes for the diaconate in 1844 in Dortmund and in 1847 in Berlin with the support of King Frederick William IV of Prussia, and his wife Queen Elizabeth.