Our Texan History

We are here in Texas to share our life with the most needy people in franciscan, joyous way. They are not only needy for care and protection but even more needy for faith, hope and love. We try to create true homely atmosphere in ours Nursing Homes. We are also open for groups and individuals starving for reatreat silence and seeking for deeper prayer life.

On Nov. 24, 1970, two sisters of the Daughters of Our Lady of Sorrows, Sr. Alphonsa and Sr. Helen, came to Texas. They were invited here by Rev. Peter Kolton, who in 1966, to commemorate the millennium of Christianity in Poland, built a Shrine to Our Lady of Czestochowa in San Antonio. The sisters took on the responsibility to take care of the Shrine and promote the devotion to the Blessed Mother. The Shrine is located at 138 Beethoven in San Antonio, and now serves as a gathering place and museum.

The sisters were warmly accepted and welcomed by Archbishop Francis Furey. A month later, Sr. Zbigniewa Kaczmarczyk, the Mother General of the Congregation, came from Poland and approved the establishment. She also promised to send more sisters to follow the charism of their Order in Texas. The sisters took employment at a nursing home in San Antonio owned by Ms. Muriel Merrit, who later built a chapel where the sisters were able to worship. In 1976, the sisters purchased this nursing home and another nursing home in Kenedy, Texas. They renamed them: St. Francis in San Antonio and John Paul II in Kenedy.