In March 1860, responding to the request of Franciscan Friars to teach German immigrant children in New York, nine sisters left Philadelphia for Syracuse. Later in the year, Bishop Neumann's successor, Bishop James Wood, separated the Syracuse mission from the Philadelphia foundation, creating a first daughter congregation. In December 1860, Mother Francis opened the congregation's first hospital, St. Mary's in Philadelphia. Sisters were also sent to Buffalo, New York in response to the plea of the Redemptorist priests to serve the people of the rapidly growing city. The community in Buffalo became a separate congregation in the autumn of 1863.