In 1849, six men and six women, members of the Third Order Secular, came from Bavaria at the invitation of Bishop John Martin Henni to serve the German-speaking population of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The women soon desired to form a formal religious community. To this end, Constitutions was compiled for them by the Bishop's assistant, the Rev. Michael Heiss in 1853, and the Sisters were constituted as the Sisters of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis. In 1856, they were assigned by Bishop Henni to perform domestic work at the seminary he had founded for German-speaking seminarians in Milwaukee. By 1868, Heiss had become the first Bishop of LaCrosse, Wisconsin and invited the Sisters to move their motherhouse there, which happened in 1871. In 1873, Mother Antonia directed the Sisters in Milwaukee to cease the domestic work and to relocate to LaCrosse. Thirty-seven Sisters chose to remain due to their desire to continue serving at the seminary, and they petitioned to form a separate congregation. They became the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi. The community in LaCrosse became known as the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. The motherhouse of the congregation is in St. Francis, Wisconsin.