Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia

Maria Anna Boll Bachmann was a widow with four children, whose husband, Anthony, had died of injuries sustained due to anti-immigrant violence fomented by the American Nativist Party in Philadelphia.

In the aftermath of her husband's death, Bachmann established a small shop and hostel for immigrant women in her home.

The new religious community was founded in April 1855 with Bachmann, her sister, Barbara Boll, and Anna Dorn, a member of the Third Order of Saint Francis residing at the hostel.

[3] St. James' Protectory in Reybold, Delaware, was established by Thomas Albert Andrew Becker, the Bishop of Wilmington, in September 1879 as an orphanage for boys.

[6] In 1891 the Sisters were called to Boston to staff St. Francis Home in Roxbury;[7] The congregation staffed the institution until 1966.

[8] In 1892, at the request of Katharine Drexel, six Sisters left Philadelphia to staff a school at St. Stephens Mission on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming.

[9] The school is incorporated as a separate legal entity with a governing board that includes lay women and men and Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia.

The premises then housed St. Joseph Family Center, offering counseling programs[12] until it too closed in 2016 due to financial considerations.

[17] In the summer of 2021, Neumann University entered into an agreement to purchase the contiguous Our Lady of Angels Motherhouse for dormitory space.

There is also a program called "Franciscan Companions" for members of the laity to participate in the congregation's service of prayer and ministry.