About the Sisters of St. Francis
of the Neumann Communities
www.sosf.org
(Check out the new vocation section!)

The Sisters of St. Francis were officially founded on July 12, 2004 when the Sisters of St. Francis of the Immaculate Virgin of Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., the Sisters of St. Francis Third Order Regular of Buffalo (Williamsville Franciscans), and the Sisters of the Third Order of Syracuse, N.Y. united to form the new congregation. This marked the first union of Franciscan congregations in the U.S. The Sisters of St. Francis of Millvale joined together with the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities on August 26, 2007.

These four communities grew out of the same Philadelphia congregation that Sister Mary Francis Bachmann, Sister Mary Margaret Boll and Sister Bernardina Dorn founded with the guidance of St. John Neumann (then Bishop of Philadelphia) in 1855. In response to the needs of the times, small groups of sisters traveled to Syracuse and Buffalo. In 1865 two sisters traveled to Pittsburgh to serve the sick and poor, then in 1882 sisters began serving homeless youth in the New York City area.  Eventually four additional communities were formed, creating the Neumann-Bachmann Heritage communities. 

In 1883, Mother Marianne Cope, superior of the Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse, and six Franciscan sisters arrived in Hawaii to care for people with Hansen’s Disease. She was the only one of 50 religious superiors to say “yes” in response to a plea from Hawaiian officials to provide care to these individuals. Following in Mother Marianne’s footsteps, today, 546 sisters continue to make vital contributions in response to the needs of the times through their ministries of education, healthcare, pastoral care, the missions, social services and retreat work in 32 dioceses and archdioceses around the world, including Hawaii, East Africa, Peru, Puerto Rico and Canada. The congregation remains committed to the care of the poor, homeless, refugees, the young and the old, and those who need an advocate. In addition, the sisters are dedicated to establishing peace and justice as well as caring for the environment.

Women of strength, women of influence, women of vision, women of integrity, women of wisdom, women of prayer. Prophetic women, risk-taking women, hope-filled women, vowed women religious.