American Province
Accepting an invitation from Bishop Peter Joseph Baltes of Alton, IL, twenty Sisters arrived in the United States on November 3, 1875. At his direction they established their Motherhouse in Springfield, IL, and were sent to five other locations in Illinois (East St. Louis, Belleville, Alton, Litchfield, and Effingham). They learned English, introduced themselves to the people of the area, and began nursing care, earning the residents trust.

They quickly became engaged in providing home care and building hospitals. Eventually other locations requested their services, primarily in German communities in Illinois and Wisconsin. The community in Germany continued to send young women to the United States to assist with the ministry until 1933.

Schools of Nursing
The schools of nursing were established to ensure a high level of nursing skill. To this end, a School of Nursing was founded in 1886 to train the Sisters. Schools were located in Springfield, IL. (1886 -present) and Eau Claire, WI. (1917-1932). Skills were taught for clinical and technical support services including anesthesia, laboratory, EEG, x-ray and pastoral care. St. John's College of Nursing exists today under the auspice of St. John's Hospital in Springfield. Sisters still serve on the board of the school. For more information on St. John's College of Nursing click here.

Motherhouse in Springfield
In 1917, the congregation purchased 500 acres of land five miles northeast of Springfield for the erection of a tuberculosis sanitarium and the construction of a new Motherhouse complex.

First Missions
Missionary Sisters were sent to China in 1925 in celebration of the 50-year anniversary of the American Province. Other Sisters were sent to minister to Native Americans in Arizona and New Mexico in the mid-1940s and early 1950s. In 1948 all but three of the Chinese Sisters fled China and some members of the group migrated to Japan to begin serving the post-bomb victims. Eventually, in 1977, this Japanese mission became a separate Province.