In 1869, Mother M. Anselma Bopp, in collaboration with Father John Gerard Dall, founded the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George in Thuine, a small village in northwest Germany.  Father Dall desired to have Sisters for his people and to establish a home for needy children and the sick.  The dream of Father Dall was realized, in 1857, with the arrival of two Sisters of the Holy Cross from Strassbourg, Sister M. Anselma and Sister Marianne.  Animated by the Spirit of Christ, Sister M. Anselma placed herself utterly at the disposal of God’s Will.  In a spirit of true faith-filled obedience, Sister M. Anselma carried out the separation from her original Congregation to serve the people of Thuine, who lived in extreme poverty.  The new Community adopted the Rule of the Third Order of St. Francis with the mission to be simply ready in obedience to God’s call.  The spirituality of this new Franciscan Community centered on the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Whom it is said in Scripture:  "They shall look on the One Whom they have pierced" (Jn. 19:37).  In the spirit of St. Francis, Mother M. Anselma endeavored to know God’s Will through the signs of the times and then in her service to others strove to make His merciful love visible to all whom she and the first Sisters encountered.  Now, 135 years later, 1600 Thuiner Franciscan Sisters on five continents serve Christ in the poor and needy of every condition.

        Because of the politics and the animosity towards the Catholic Church in Germany at the end of the 19^th century, the Community established a house in Holland in 1875.  From the Netherlands, missionaries were sent to Indonesia, in 1932, and to Tanzania, Africa in 1960.  In 1920, Sisters from Germany went to Japan and in 1923 to the United States.  From the United States, Sisters were sent to Brazil in 1972.  In 1954, the Congregation was divided into three Provinces – Germany, Holland, and Japan.  In 1972, Indonesia became a Province and in 1984, the United States became a Province.  The areas in Tanzania and in Brazil have remained Regions of their respective Provinces.

        The American Province began in poverty with many hardships.  In St. Louis, Father Dunne was looking for Sisters to staff and operate Newsboys Home, an institution for unwanted and neglected boys.  The Sisters arrived in 1923 but soon realized that they did not have the training to do this work.  The next year negotiations began for the Sisters to purchase Nazareth Home, a residence for the elderly, in Alton, Illinois.  On April 1, 1925, the Sisters moved to Alton, thus establishing the first Thuiner Franciscan house in the United States, renamed Saint Anthony’s Infirmary.  By the turn of the century, this humble beginning, with five German Franciscan Sisters, would grow to 108 Sisters in fifteen houses in six states in America and over forty Sisters in twelve convents in Brazil.

        Now in the third millennium, the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George, like St. Francis, have listened and have heard God’s call to take an active part in rebuilding His Church.  The Sisters, looking on Him Whom they have pierced, take the charism entrusted to them and strive to make His merciful love visible through their service to others in a variety of apostolic activities – hospital work, care of the elderly, education, day care, religious education, parish work, and social services. 

        In the spirit of Mother M. Anselma, the Sisters continue to seek to know God’s Will for them as they strive to serve His people  In response to the needs of the times, the Sisters in the German Province began a mission in Albania where religion had been suppressed for almost a century.  In America, the health care apostolate was expanded to include a residence for assisted living.  Performed in the spirit of St. Francis and Mother M. Anselma, these new endeavors answer Pope John Paul II’s appeal for creativity in charity.  "Consecrated life...cannot help but feel the urgency to continue, with the Spirit’s creativity, to surprise the world with new forms of effective evangelical love that respond to the needs of the time" (John Paul II, Starting Afresh from Christ, 36).