In 1807, her eldest sister, Cecilia was professed at the Ursuline convent in Cork. Frances travelled from Dublin to Cork for the ceremony, where she met Mary Aikenhead. Cecilia Ball took the name of Sister Francis Regis and was within a few years made Superior of the convent in Cork. Upon the death of her father in 1808, Frances returned to Dublin. Frances was expected to make an admirable wife for the son and heir of some rich Catholic Dublin merchant family.