The missionaries form an international religious congregation of women representing 77 nationalities spread over 74 countries on five continents.

Chappotin, while still a novice of the Sisters of Mary Reparatrix, a congregation dedicated to the training of women in the spirit of Ignatius of Loyola, had been sent in 1865 from France to the apostolic vicariate of Madurai in British India, which was under the administration of the Society of Jesus.

[1] Unlike the instruction focus of the Sisters of Mary Reparatrix, the missionaries would carry out a ministry of providing medical care to the women of India who were unable to receive it from male doctors, due to the practice of purdah, which strictly segregated them from contact with men.

Secondly, Mary of the Passion came into contact with Bernardino of Portogruaro, the Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor (The Franciscans).

The following year, Bishop Matthew Harkins of the Diocese of Providence invited them to come to Woonsocket to serve families who worked in the mills.

[3] In 1937 the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary assumed responsibility for the McMahon Memorial Temporary Shelter, where children forcibly removed from homes would be housed until more permanent situations could be found.

[5] In Boston, Massachusetts, the Franciscan Missionaries accepted responsibility for the pediatric hospital founded in 1949 by Cardinal Richard Cushing, funded by Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., and his wife Rose.

[6] As of 2024, the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary formed the fifth largest religious institute for women in the Catholic Church, with nearly 5,000 members serving in 74 countries.