Mary Augustine Giesen (December 6, 1860 - February 25, 1950), founded the Sisters of St. Francis of Maryville which founded and operated St. Francis Hospital in

Maryville, Missouri Maryville is a city and county seat of Nodaway County, Missouri, United States. Located in the "Missouri Point" region, As of the 2020 census, the city population was 10,633. Maryville is home to Northwest Missouri State University and Northwes ...

. She was born in Union Hill, Minnesota. She joined the Sisters of St. Mary in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. In 1894 she moved to

to found and operate the town's first hospital (which is one of only two hospitals north of

St. Joseph, Missouri St. Joseph is a city in and the county seat of Buchanan County, Missouri. Small parts of St. Joseph extend into Andrew County. Located on the Missouri River, it is the principal city of the St. Joseph Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includ ...

in the

Platte Purchase The Platte Purchase was a land acquisition in 1836 by the United States government from American Indian tribes of the region. It comprised lands along the east bank of the Missouri River and added to the northwest corner of the state of Miss ...

area of northwest Missouri). They formed a separate congregation, the Sisters of St. Francis of Maryville.History, Franciscan Sisters of Mary
/ref> In 1947 they built the landmark Mount Alverno motherhouse on the bluffs above the One Hundred and Two River just east of Maryville. She is buried in Maryville. In 1985 her order rejoined the Sisters of St. Mary to form the

Franciscan Sisters of Mary The Franciscan Sisters of Mary is a Roman Catholic religious congregation of religious sisters based in St. Louis, Missouri, noted for its operation of SSM Health Care, a group of some 20 hospitals throughout the Midwestern United States. It was ...

which is headquartered in St. Louis and operates 20 hospitals in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

, Missouri, Oklahoma and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

References

External links

SSM HistoryOfficial website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giesen, Mary Augustine 1860 births 1950 deaths Founders of Catholic religious communities People from New Prague, Minnesota People from Maryville, Missouri