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The Sisterhood of St. John the Divine has a storied history going back nearly one hundred and fifty years. Explore this interactive timeline to find out about some of the key moments in the history of the Sisterhood.
October 28, 1837
Hannah Grier Coombe is born in the Carrying Place, Upper Canada, to high church Anglican priest Rev. John Grier.
1882
Following the death of her husband, Charles Grier, Hannah and her sister, Amelia Elizabeth travel to Peerskill, New York for two years' of formation at the Sisters of St. Mary, preparing them to found the first Anglican order of monastic women in Canada.
1884
On September 8, 1884, Hannah Coome professes her vows at Peerskill. The Sisters reside in a house on Robinson Street in Toronto, making meals for the poor, running a medicine dispensary, teaching Bible classes, providing clothing and sewing for churches, and doing visitations. The Sisterhood opens a hospital, a home for the aged, and a mission house.
1885
During the North-West Resistance, Mother Hannah, a novice, and two postulants staff a field hospital in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan to serve the wounded. 
On returning to Toronto the same year, the sisters move into a house on Robinson Street. Acquiring a second building on Euclid Avenue, Mother Hannah and the Sisterhood found Toronto's first hospital specializing in women's care.
1889
The Sisterhood establishes a new mother house on Major Street, where they will live until 1953. They open their new hospital, St. John's Hospital, nearby. The Sisterhood is formally incorporated.
1918
Four sisters are sent to Regina, Saskatchewan to start the Qu'Appelle Diocesan School, opening the way for the Sisters' ministry in western Canada.
1933
With federal and provincial support, the Sisterhood founds St. John's Rehab Hospital, Ontario's first hospital focusing on rehabilitative care, on Cummer Avenue in Willowdale.
1936
The Sisters open a shelter for young women in Edmonton, beginning their ministry in Alberta.
1953
The Sisters move from downtown Toronto to their new home on Botham Road.
St. John's Rehab acquires a further eight acres of land near the hospital, building a residence for sisters who worked at the hospital and other staff. This building would later become the Guest House as it stands today.
1977
Sister Rosemary Ann Benwell, SSJD, becomes one of the first women and the first sister ordained to the Anglican Communion in Canada.
1990s
The Women at a Crossroads program is established in 1995. In 1999, the pilot program for having Oblates associated with the Sisterhood is initiated, and formally adopted in 2002.
2002
The Sisters begin a permanent ministry in Victoria, B.C. at St. John's House.
2005
The Sisterhood moves into their current home at 233 Cummer Avenue, with the new convent built onto the original residential building on the grounds acquired by St. John's Rehab in 1953.
2026
After three years of renovations, the Guest House opens for the sisters' ministry of spiritual direction and hospitality.