Jordan invited a young woman, Amalia Streitel (1844-1911), who had already been a sister of a Franciscan congregation, to move to Rome to lead this effort.
She arrived to find that the housing Jordan had procured for her was an apartment lacking furniture and cooking utensils.
[3] In 1890 Streitel arrived in the United States at the request of Bishop of Wichita, John Joseph Hennessy, that the congregation take over St. Francis hospital which was faltering.
[1] Final approval of the congregation was received on 6 March 1911 by Pope Pius X, the same day that Streitel died in Castel Sant'Elia, Italy.
At present the sisters of the Sorrowful Mother serve in Italy, Austria, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Germany, the United States, Grenada, St. Lucia, Tanzania and Trinidad and Tobago.