Mary Alfred Moes

Mary Alfred Moes, (born Maria Catherine Moes; October 28, 1828 – December 18, 1899)[1] was a Roman Catholic nun who was instrumental in establishing first the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate in Joliet, Illinois, as well as the Sisters of Saint Francis of Rochester, Minnesota.

The Moes sisters left a life of comfort and set sail from Le Havre, France on September 27, 1851, destined for New York City.

[4] At the invitation of Carl Kuemin, of St. John's Church in Joliet, Illinois, the small group of four sisters moved to that town the following November to begin teaching the local children.

[3] Lightning struck the Church of St. John the Baptist there on July 31, 1864, killing one parishioner, a young woman who left behind a family.

This unexpected work soon expanded, and the sisters began to take in orphans, as well as boarding school students, and candidates to the community.

During the summer of 1865, the Guardian of the Franciscan friars in the United States, Pamfilo da Magliano, summoned Moes to St. Bonaventure Friary, in Allegany County, New York, along with the first postulant to the community, Mary Ann Rosenberger.

[3] Until 1880, the order used the constitution drafted for the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, a congregation da Magliano had previously established.

Shortly after that school was opened, Bishop Foley of Joliet directed Moes and the Minnesota sisters to separate from the Illinois congregation.

She proposed to Dr. William Worrall Mayo that the sisters would operate a hospital for the injured and sick if he and his sons would serve as its physicians.