Organized in 1901 by Bishop Messmer of the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin when 42 Polish School Sisters of Saint Francis separated from their community at Milwaukee and founded a convent and academy at Stevens Point, Wisconsin. They follow the Rule of the Third Order of Saint Francis and conduct parochial schools and academies in the archdioceses of Chicago and Milwaukee, and the dioceses of Green Bay, La Crosse, Superior, Detroit, Cleveland, Peoria, Hartford, and Denver. The mother-house and novitiate are at Stevens Point.