The Clinton Franciscans have followed the Franciscan way since they were first called into being in 1866 by the Trappist monks of Gethsemani, Kentucky, who needed women to teach the girls of the area.

Like many religious congregations, the Sisters of St. Francis, now of Clinton, Iowa, had an inauspicious beginning. Near the end of the Civil War, a young widow named Caroline Cambron Warren visited the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, to have Masses offered for her late husband who had been killed in the Battle of Perryville. While she was there, the Abbot, Benedict Berger .O.C.S.O., asked her to conduct a school for the poor girls of the region. The monks had begun a school for the local boys.  She agreed and was employed immediately doing mending for the monks.

1863
By the time school began in May of 1863, Mrs. Warren had been joined by her niece, Sally Walker. In 1864, another young woman, Lizzie Lillis, joined them, and the three began a communal life of work and prayer.  Shortly thereafter, Mrs. Warren was received as a Franciscan tertiary.

1866
On January 21, 1866, all three women became Franciscan tertiaries at a ceremony in the Abbey. Afterwards, Bishop Lavialle, the bishop of Louisville, Kentucky, declared that the congregation of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis was established with his approbation. Abbot Benedict was appointed their spiritual director.

1868
Abbot Benedict persuaded Mother Antonia of the Oldenburg, Indiana, Franciscans to set up a separate novitiate for women her would send to her.  By 1868, the Kentucky Sisters had completed their studies, made vows for a year, and returned to Gethsemani to a new motherhouse and school named Mount Olivet.

1874
New members joined the community and more students came, but poverty prevailed because the farmers, still suffering from the Civil War, could not afford to pay for their children's schooling. The new Bishop of Louisville had the Sisters move their academy and motherhouse to Shelbyville, Kentucky. Students and members flocked to their schools in Chicago (now St. Francis), Fancy Farm, Hardinsburg, Knottsville, Lebanon, Louisville, St. Mary's and Whitesville, Kentucky, but their financial situation only worsened. Many times, they had to resort to begging just to provide a little food.

1888
Two Jesuit priests in Shelbyville for a mission urged the Sisters to apply for acceptance into the Diocese of Dubuque, Iowa. By the time they were ready to begin the move in September of 1890, ten Sisters had succumb to the typhoid fever epidemic which swept Shelbyville. Sisters who ministered to the townspeople had become victims in turn.

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When the congregation moved to Iowa in 1890, there were 21 professed Sisters (in black habits) and 12 novices (in white veils). They also brought their dog.

1890

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The first group of 12 Sisters left for Iowa in September of 1890. Almost immediately upon their arrival, four of the Sisters were sent to open a school at St. Ann Parish in Vail, Iowa, where Clinton Franciscan's taught until the local school closed in 2003. Another group opened a school in Mason City, Iowa. By December 3, 1890, all 33 Sisters, including six novices and six postulants, had arrived in Iowa. Those who were not sent to open schools remained with the Franciscan Sisters in Dubuque for a few weeks.

1891
In January, they left for Anamosa, Iowa, where Bishop Hennessy had directed their motherhouse be established.  The school flourished, but the house was so small that many of the Sisters had to sleep in the hayloft of a nearby barn.

Later that year, Rev. James Murray, an Irish priest and pastor of the newly organized St. Patrick Parish in Clinton, Iowa, asked for Sisters to staff a new school.

1893
Father Murray helped the Sisters obtain property in Clinton, which  included a large building that became their new motherhouse and academy. They named their new home Mount St. Clare. That year, 1893, was the 700th anniversary of the birth of St. Clare of Assisi.

In addition to St. Patrick's, they also staffed schools at St. Boniface and Sacred Heart parishes in Clinton. Their students and members grew and soon they needed to purchase more land and build a new facility.

1910

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Their new, 7-story building, also named Mount St. Clare, comfortably housed the motherhouse, a novitiate to serve the growing number of applicants, and the academy.

1911
The old building was used for three years as a boarding school for young boys.

1914
The old building was re-named Mount Alverno and became the first home for the aged and infirm in Clinton County. The present Alverno Health Care Facility was built in 1971.

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The  Alverno Health Care Facility 841 Thirteenth Avenue North, Clinton, Iowa 52732 The new facility stands at the south west corner of the Clinton Franciscans' property.

Between 1902 and 1922, the congregation undertook operation of three hospitals and schools of nursing in Macomb, Illinois, and in Burlington and Grinnell, Iowa. 

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Sister Carmen Marie Swift with student nurses at Mercy Hospital. Burlington, School of Nursing,

1918

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The need to prepare teachers for Clinton County schools and for parish mission schools prompted the creation of Mount St. Clare College in 1918.

1923
In 1923, the Constitutions of the Clinton Franciscans were approved by the Vatican and they became a Pontifical congregation. Following Vatican Council II, revised Constitutions were approved in 1987.

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Before the Durgin Education Center was built in 1999 and before Durham Residence Hall was built in 1962 and before St. Francis Hall was built in 1958 and before Regis Hall was built in 1956, the original Mount St. Clare Convent, Academy and College boasted a farm with cows and chickens enough to feed sisters and students.

Former novice Beatrice (Sister Mary of the Cross) Hayes Ahern remembers those days and the people who made them so special:

“I recall the nun who took care of the chickens. I offered to take one of the buckets she was carrying out to the barn and thought I’d drop it, as it was so heavy.  They were full of leftover food from the kitchen and dining room to feed the chickens.  

Sister Seraphim (Hagerty) was from a wealthy family and her fine French serge habit was stained with chicken dung.  When chicken was served, she’d cry.  She sat at the elder superiors’ table and cried.”

1943
The Mount St. Clare Speech and Hearing Center was opened on the College campus to meet the needs of stroke victims and children with disabilities. 

Sister Edward Smith, speech and drama teacher at MSC College, began treating stroke victims and children with speech impediments because the people of Clinton came to her for help.  In 1943, the Sisters formally established the Speech and Hearing Center that she directed until her death in 1957.

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Sister Marcella Marie Narlock became director of the Center in 1959.   In 1994, the Center opened the Kehl Communication Closet, another "first" for the area. It provides the loan of technical devices to assist clients in communication.

By the 1950's, Clinton Franciscans were teaching as far away as California. In 1960, they opened Mary, Star of the Sea School and a clinic in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island. In 1964, Sisters went for the first time to serve in the diocese of Chulucanas, Peru.

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Sisters Mary Eleanor Dunning, Mary Francis Burke, Mary Paul Hummer, and Mary Jeanine Bradford were the first to begin teaching at Mary, Star of the Sea School in Freeport, Bahamas.	Sister Phyllis Morris, starting teaching in Chulucanas, Peru, in 1964. She is now pastoral coordinator for the Diocese of Chulucanas.

1957
The Ritter Home in Burlington was deeded to the Clinton Franciscans in 1957 for the purpose of providing a residence for elderly women. The home was operated until 1990.

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Again at the request of the community, the Sisters took over the operation of the Ritter Home, a residence for ladies, in Burlington, Iowa, in 1957.  Sister Catherine Lodder (left in the picture) was serving as director of the home when it closed in 1990. She was assisted by Sister Virginia Krakow.

1967
The Mount St. Clare Pre-School was opened on the Montessori model, the first such school in Clinton.  It has expanded to include a child care center and also serves as a lab school for Ashford University education students.

1986
On October 4, the Feast of Francis,  the Associate Program began with the covenanting of 13 lay men and women in Clinton.  Following the 2000 General Chapter, the Associate Program instituted shared leadership and changed its name to "Associate Partnership."  There are now 75 Associates across the country.

The motherhouse has also undergone expansion and relocation. A new facility was built at Mount St. Clare in 1956 and expanded in 1965.

1997
In April 1997, 45 sisters  moved into The Canticle, the seventh motherhouse of the congregation. 

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The Canticle is located on the prairie, at the heart of the congregation’s property in Clinton. The 50 acres surrounding The Canticle are being restored to native communities of prairie grasses and flowers.

The sisters gave the use of the former Mount St. Clare Convent to the College for a residence hall and to the Speech and Hearing Center for much-needed expansion.  

135 years have passed since Caroline Cambron Warren answered a call to serve God through others.  Many other women have accepted that call since her time.  In those years, many changes have occurred in society and in the Church.   The Franciscans now of Clinton kept pace with those changes, modifying their habit, to permit them to be of greater service, and extending the service they gave.  Founded to teach and called by dire need into health care, today's Sisters also minister in social services, in peace and justice advocacy, in pastoral and campus ministry,  in AIDS ministry, and residential services for disabled persons through L'Arche International.

We commit ourselves to our corporate mission of active nonviolence and peacemaking as a way of life

2004-2008 Commitment Statement

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