Our FMDM history and legacy owes its beginnings, in the late 1880s, to the coming together of a small group of women in the northeast of England who committed their lives to following Christ by living the Gospel after the example of St Francis of Assisi.
Following Christ in Simplicity
In 1887, three of that group started a branch of the Third Order Secular of St Francis at an orphanage in London. They were imbued with a deep desire to follow Christ in Gospel simplicity and dedicated themselves to praying together and serving the poor. In 1892 the group opened an orphanage in Aldershot and soon experienced the joy of being recognised as a new religious congregation.
Dynamic Missionary Expansion
Mother Francis Spring (1937-1971) led dynamic expansion from this one community to all five continents. In the spirit of St Francis, we undertook ministries in health care, education and care of the family. In 1956, our motherhouse and novitiate moved from our busy hospital in Guildford to Ladywell in Godalming in the UK. While living a full and busy missionary life we became increasingly monastic in our prayer and community life.
Radical Change
The years following our General Chapter of 1977 saw radical change, calling us to rediscover our Franciscan roots. The new Congregational Leader, Sr Joan Mary Hinchley, through her enthusiasm and inspired person-orientated leadership, led us away from the monastic lifestyle to a more flexible way of living, appropriate for modern ministries. Sisters had the freedom to take personal responsibility for their lives.
Living Amongst the Needy
From the 1990s we began to withdraw from our big institutions realising that our mission had evolved to living and working amongst the more needy. This restructuring continued into the new millennium and was accompanied by an increase in African sisters. There was also an increase in the number of mission partners, lay people working alongside us in our ministries.
Our history is underpinned by substantial archives. Please contact our archivist for more information via the Contact Us page.
Historical Timeline
We have put together a timeline to show the key events in the history of the Congregation. It started in the 1880s with a small group of Franciscan women helping the poor in the north of England. This was followed by years of missionary expansion from 1937 to 1971 which included the establishment of large hospitals and schools. After the Second Vatican Council and the General Chapter of 1977, there were radical changes which lead to the reclaiming of our Franciscan Heritage and a revisioning of our mission in the decades which followed.
