School Sisters of St. Francis

The School Sisters of St. Francis (SSSF) are an international religious congregation of Catholic Sisters, part of the Third Order of Saint Francis, founded in 1874 in New Cassel, Wisconsin. The congregation’s mission covers the United States, Europe, Latin America and India.

On April 28, 1874, Emma Franziska Höll (Sister Mary Alexia) and two other nuns arrived in New Cassel, WI, USA from Schwarzach, in the German Empire, to establish a new religious congregation. They built a boarding school in New Cassel, and would in subsequent years built other facilities in Wisconsin, including a mission for Chippewa Indians in Reserve, Wisconsin and what would eventually become the SSSF motherhouse in Milwaukee. Many women joined the community, and by 1887 sisters staffed schools in five states.

In light of its German heritage, the SSSF were very effective in ministering to the German immigrant population in the region. Members of the congregation from a Polish background decided to establish a separate congregation to address the educational needs of children of Polish immigrants. Forty-six sisters left to form the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis.

The St. Joseph Center Chapel was consecrated on the Feast of St. Joseph, March 19, 1917. Milwaukee architects, Peter Brust and Richard Philipp, designed the Chapel in the style of Italian Romanesque Revival, having toured Italy as research for this commission. There are three altars in the main body of the chapel, each constructed of Carrara marble shipped from Italy during World War I. Given the danger of attack by German U-boats, the shipment required the special authorization of President Woodrow Wilson. Murals depicting the seven sacraments adorn the walls of the sacristy to the right of the sanctuary. These murals are noteworthy both because a resident nun painted them, and because she included portraits of local Milwaukeeans in her painting.

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