Society of St John the Evangelist

The Society of St John the Evangelist, abbreviated SSJE, is an Anglican religious order for men whose members live under a rule of life and take monastic vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience. Founded in 1866 in Cowley, Oxford, England, by Richard Meux Benson, Charles Chapman Grafton and Simeon Wilberforce O'Neill, it became the first stable religious community of men in the Anglican Communion since the English Reformation. Its North American headquarters is now in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and its professed brothers center their ministries on preaching, spiritual direction and hospitality, alongside chaplaincy, mission trips and support for students, prisoners, the homeless and people affected by HIV/AIDS. A broader lay and ordained Fellowship of Saint John in the United States, numbering about 1,000 members, follows a similar rule alongside the professed brothers.