In 1884 a small group of Franciscan Tertiaries began in Holly Place, London, helping in the parish.
They formed a religious congregation called, "The Missionary Sisters of the Third Order of St Francis for the Home Missions" in 1896.
In 1925 The first sisters were sent to train as nurses including Sr Francis Spring and in 1935 the first hospital, Mount Alvernia, was opened in Guildford (UK).
In 1942, the Missionary Sisters of Saint Francis established their first foundation outside of Britain with a small maternity hospital/nursing home in the Mount Pleasant section of Ballinasloe.
John Dignan, Bishop of Clonfert invited them to found a hospital and to that end donated land in the Brackernagh area.