John C. Bennett joined the Mormons, after they had settled in Nauvoo, Illinois, and quickly rose to positions of importance as mayor of the city and assistant president of the church. After charges were brought against him of teaching a system of "spiritual wifery" and improper conduct with women, Bennett was separated from the church. He wrote an exposé, alleging that Joseph Smith had established three orders of women, known as the Cyprian Saints, the Chambered Sisters of Charity, and the Cloistered Saints or Consecratees of the Cloister.
According to Bennett, the Cyprian Saints were women who had been interrogated by members of the Relief Society and were found guilty of lapsing from the straight path of virtue. They were excluded from the Relief Society and were "set apart and appropriated to the gratification of the vilest appetites of the brutal Priests and Elders of the Mormon Church" (Bennett 1842, 221). Bennett described the Chambered Sisters of Charity as follows:
This order comprises that class of females who indulge their sensual propensities, without restraint, whether married or single, by the express permission of the Prophet. Whenever one of the "Saints," (as the Mormons style themselves,), of the male sex, becomes enamored of a female, and she responds to the feeling by a reciprocal manifestation, the loving brother goes to Holy Joe, and states the case. It makes, by the bye, no difference whatever if one or both the parties are already provided with conjugal helpmates. The Prophet gravely buries his face in his hat, in which lies his peep-stone, and inquires of the Lord what are his will and pleasure in the matter. Sometimes, when Joe wants the woman for his own purposes, an unfavorable answer is given; but, generally, the reply permits the parties to follow the bent of their inclinations . . . . (Bennett 1842, 221-22)
The Cloistered Saints were "composed of females, whether married or unmarried, who, by an express grant and gift of God, through his Prophet the Holy Joe, are set apart and consecrated to the use and benefit of particular individuals, as secret, spiritual wives" (Bennett 1842, 223). As in the former case, the prophet inquired of the Lord, and if a favorable answer was received, the two parties went through a ceremony in the lodge room.
It is doubtful that the three orders described by Bennett ever existed, but his allegations had some elements of truth. The Relief Society did in fact interrogate at least a few women concerning rumors of improper and unvirtuous conduct. But rather than consigning these women to the ranks of Cyprian Saints, the Society, under the leadership of Emma Smith, actually worked against the teaching of polygamy. Nonetheless, unknown to Emma, Joseph secretly married a number of the leading women of the Society. Furthermore, some older women, such as Elizabeth Durfee and Elizabeth Allred, were used by Mormon leaders to approach other women: "Sometimes referred to as 'Mothers in Israel,' they assisted Joseph by contacting women, explaining the new order of marriage to them, and occasionally delivering marriage proposals" (Newell and Avery 1984, 109).