a decade earlier by Anne Ayres. The order was somewhat controversial; detractors criticized their attire and mission for resembling Catholic nuns. For the probationary three-year period, Cannon was expected to support herself financially. She cared for seriously ill patients, including some quarantined or victims of small pox. The deaconesses assisted the poor in New York City under the auspices of Rev. William Augustus Muhlenberg and the Church of the Holy Communion, and had recently helped found St. Luke's Hospital. Dr. Muhlenberg described the deaconesses as "the centre around whom the others are to rally, carrying out her directions and deriving through her, in return, supplies, protection, and all needful provision for their comfort." During this time, he also described a visit as attending physician: Community of St. Mary In 1863, conflicts with Ayres led Cannon and four other sisters to leave and establish a new order, initially called the Sisters of St. Catherine. On February 2, 1865, Bishop Horatio Potter (1802-87) formally received Cannon, Jane Haight, Mary Heartt, Amelia Asten, and Sarah Bridge as the "Sisterhood of St. Mary". The new order, now called the Community of St. Mary (CSM), followed a modified Benedictine rule. It concentrated its efforts upon helping women, the homeless and orphans. By year's end it accepted its first novice. During her lifetime and afterwards, the Community developed girls’ schools, hospitals, and orphanages in New York, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. House of Mercy In 1863 the new religious order took over the former Howland Mansion on what was then the rural tip of Manhattan. The mansion had been turned into a home for "abandoned and troubled women" by Mrs. William Richmond, a rector's wife. By 1891, Cannon had overseen the building of a 200-room castle-like brick structure on the still-rural site and renamed it the "House of Mercy". Bishop Henry Codman Potter held an elaborate consecration service. Courts began assigning girls there, and families also brought their wayward daughters. The new structure, built to house 154 "fallen" women, had three divisions: the House of Mercy, St. Agnes’s House, and a division for penitents. Iron gratings barred the windows, and persons assigned to one division were not allowed to mingle with those in other divisions. It better integrated with the rest of Manhattan when street car lines extended into the area in 1906, significantly after Mother Cannon's death. Controversies also ensued, as discussed infra, and the order transferred