Congregation with motherhouse at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, a Level I adult and pediatric trauma center affiliated with the OSF Saint Francis College of Nursing and the University of Illinois College of Medicine-Chicago Peoria campus in Peoria, Illinois; founded in 1877 by the Rt. Rev. John Lancaster Spalding, Bishop of Peoria, with the leadership of Mother M. Frances Krasse, from a local community of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis headquartered in Dubuque, Iowa, dedicated to nursing care. The Sisters later expanded into the field of education. Sisters, 163; novices, 38; postulants, 26; hospitals, 10; patients, 5320, colleges, 2.