Mother Maria Theresia Bonzel, Our Foundress

The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration was founded in Olpe, Germany in 1863 by Mother Maria Theresia Bonzel. Drawn to the ideals of St. Francis of Assisi, she and her first nine sisters looked after the healthcare and educational needs of poor and neglected children and others without means in the town of Olpe, Germany.

Anti-clerical laws enacted in Germany early in the 1870's restricted the work of the Sisters and the reception of new candidates. Undaunted, Mother Maria Theresia accepted the invitation of Bishop Joseph Dwenger to establish a convent within his diocese of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Six pioneer sisters arrived at Lafayette, Indiana in 1875. Within three weeks a temporary hospital was organized, and the poor and sick of the area began receiving the healing ministry of the Sisters of St. Francis. In 1876, St. Elizabeth Hospital was dedicated. From here, the community grew rapidly, with the founding of numerous hospitals, schools, orphanages, homes for the aged and centers for social work.

By 1886, the size of the congregation in the United States and in Germany (where anti-clerical reaction had since subsided) necessitated the division into two provinces: the German Province with the Motherhouse in Olpe, Germany and the American Province with its Provincialate in Lafayette, Indiana. Mother Maria Theresia died in 1905 leaving work richly blessed by God and a well-established congregation to her successors.