From their everyday work in kitchens and gardens to the solemn work of laying out the dead, the Anglican women of mid-twentieth-century Conception Bay, Newfoundland, understood and expressed Christianity through their experience as labourers within the family economy. Women's work in the region included outdoor agricultural labour, housekeeping, childbirth, mortuary services, food preparation, caring for the sick, and textile production. Ordinary Saints explores how religious belief shaped the meaning of this work, and how women lived their Christian faith through the work they did. In lived religious practices at home, in church-based voluntary associations, and in the wider community, the Anglican women of Conception Bay constructed a female theological culture characterized by mutuality, negotiation of gender roles, and resistance to male authority, combining feminist consciousness with Christian commitment. Bonnie Morgan brings together evidence from oral interviews, denominational publications, census data, minute books of the Church of England Women's Association, headstone epitaphs, and household art and objects to demonstrate the profound ties between labour and faithfulness: for these rural women, work not only expressed but also shaped belief. Ordinary Saints, with its focus on gender, labour, and lived faithfulness, breaks new ground in the history of religion in Canada.

Bonnie Morgan holds a PhD in history from the University of New Brunswick and is the Newfoundland and Labrador Collections librarian with Newfoundland and Labrador Public Libraries.

Bonnie Morgan's profile page

“While Ordinary Saints is grounded within a specific denomination, in a specific community located on an island in the North Atlantic, Morgan’s descriptions of the Anglican women of Conception Bay, such as the labour performed in the Lodge Kitchen at Upper Gullies, will resonate with readers across denominations who witnessed similar scenes in homes, church basements, and parish halls. While there are many other stories from the faithful in communities across the country waiting to be told, Ordinary Saints is a solid beginning.” Histoire sociale/Social History

"Ordinary Saints is an important, original work." Hannah Lane, Mount Allison University

"Morgan keeps the women and their personal stories at the heart of the book, creating a beautifully researched and written account that respects the authority of their voice, challenges gendered and religious assumptions, and provides a framework for future studies. At once vital and accessible, Ordinary Saints will remain fundamental to the field of women's lived religion." Canadian Historical Review

"Morgan presents an extremely detailed analysis of the work and faith of twentieth-century Anglican women in five churches around Conception Bay, Newfoundland. This study adds to the growing body of scholarly monographs related to women and religion in Canada, and while much of it, such as certain foods, is Newfoundland-specific, the women's work she describes could easily apply to women's organisations in other denominations throughout the country at that time." Journal of Ecclesiastical History

"A lively and compelling microhistory, Ordinary Saints develops real depth in the examination of women's lived religion in mid-twentieth-century Conception Bay and is a model for future studies." Heidi MacDonald, University of New Brunswick Saint John and co-author of Vatican II and Beyond: The Changing Mission and Identity of Canadian Women Religious