The School Sisters of St. Francis celebrated 135 years of service and ministry with a Mass and Open House on Sunday, April 26, at St. Joseph Center in Milwaukee. The Most Reverend William P. Callahan, OFM. Conv., Auxiliary Bishop of Milwaukee, presided at the Mass. (Click here for pictures and additional information from the event.)

The congregation was founded on April 28, 1874, by three courageous women – Emma Franziska Hoell (Mother Alexia), Paulina Schmid (Mother Alfons), and Helena Seiter (Sister Clara). The women left Germany and came to the United States in 1873 to fulfill their dream of founding a Franciscan religious order to help other immigrants and meet the needs of the Church.

Clockwise, from top, left: Mother Alfons, Mother Alexia, the sisters’ orchestra in St. Joseph Hall at St. Joseph Center circa 1952

The first house of the congregation was in New Cassel (Campbellsport), Wisconsin. In 1887, a motherhouse, St. Joseph Convent, was built in Milwaukee. When it burned to the ground in 1890, a new convent was built. Many women joined the community in the following decades, always “responding to the needs of the time,” in the words of Mother Alexia. The community’s commitment to mission was strong and sisters served as educators, nurses, musicians, and in many other ministries.

School Sisters have often been recognized for their pioneering spirit and innovation in education, health care, pastoral ministry, and the arts.  “Our foundresses rooted our congregation in the promotion of justice, human dignity and outreach to the poor,” said Sister Kathleen Kluthe, President of the School Sisters of St. Francis. “Their vision was expansive and helped to foster an interdependent global community of sisters who always seek to respond to the needs of the time,” she stated. That vision continues today with sisters, associates, staff, and volunteers carrying forth the mission of the School Sisters in India, Europe, Latin America and the United States.