The tour begins as you look to the left wall. The foundation story is told in the wall display with a picture of Antonia Lampl who founded a community of Franciscan School Sisters in Graz, Austria. Among the Sisters in that community was Sister Margareta Puhar, who was eventually sent to work in Maribor, Slovenia, a poor area of the Austrian Empire.

When the Sisters in Graz were unable to continue providing Sisters there, Margareta Puhar left her original community to found a community dedicated to the education of poor youth in Slovenia. Her story is told in words and pictures on the first wall panel. Thus, the School Sisters of Maribor, later called the School Sisters of St. Francis, became a community and continue to celebrate September 13, 1869, as Foundation Day.

In 1935 the title was once again changed to the School Sisters of St. Francis of Christ the King. On that first panel, along with a portrait of Mother Margareta, the first Reverend Mother, is a portrait of Sr. Nepomucena, one of the initial founding froup, who was the second Reverend Mother.

The next panel entitled 1887-1909 shows portraits of the next two Reverend Mothers and tells how they continued to lead the congregation as it grew.  It was during these years that Sisters were sent as missionaries to other parts of the Austrian Empire, to Egypt, and to the United States.

Immediately to the left, is the first Heritage Room, which contains several artifacts and photos on the walls and on display. The first framed photos are reproductions of the manifest of the ship, President Grant, which brought our four pioneer Sisters to the United States. As you can see, their religious names were crossed out and replaced by their baptismal names; the manifest also indicated that each had $10.00. Other interesting items follow around the outer walls of the room.

The focal point of the room is a series of inviting display panels. The green and yellow backed display boards give a chronological picture of the life and work of the Sisters of this Province from the first four pioneer Sisters who arrived from Maribor, Slovenia in 1909, until the first decade of the 21st Century.

Each of the 14 panels in both pictures and words tells part of our story using years as the title of the panel until the 1950s when words were used as headings such as Mt. Assisi Academy, St. Joseph Home and Alvernia Manor, Our Lady of the Angels House of Prayer, Chapel Renovation, and Associates. Visitors on this tour who have been taught by our Sisters or who worked with our Sisters will be reminded of the changes of the past 100 years from Sisters’ habits to buildings to ministries, captured in black and white photos early on and vibrant colored photos of recent years.

The first panels describe the journey and early days of the pioneer Sisters who crossed the ocean in steerage, the poorest part of the ship, ready to go to “Strawberry Hill” in Kansas City, Kansas to teach children of Croatian immigrants.

When influenza killed many people in St. John Parish in 1918, the Sisters also began an orphanage which continued to be home to many until 1973. The most poignant picture of these panels is of the large group of orphan children standing on a staircase.

The following panels document the continuing service of the community in immigrant parishes in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wyoming and California. The main ministry was always teaching; however, Sisters served in many different ways as well.

By the 1950s the Province was able to devote time and Sisters to ministries on the Lemont hill and the later panels describe the work at Mt. Assisi Academy, Alvernia Manor, and Our Lady of the Angels House of Prayer.  Mt. Assisi Convent was the Provincial Center, the Novitiate and home to many Sisters who served the ministries on the hill. St. Joseph Infirmary was also opened to care for our sick and infirm Sisters. Since the history continues, a new panel is planned for the 10^th anniversary of the Heritage Space in 2018.

In addition, there are other interesting artifacts to study and admire in the room. The journey then continues in the Heritage Hallway.

Our Mission Statement, posted outside the door of the Heritage Room, puts into words who we are and what we do as shown in those panels just seen  It reads: As vowed members, our mission is to live the Gospel in communion with God and one another, incarnating, witnessing, and announcing the Kingdom of Christ in a Franciscan spirit of continual conversion in the service of the Church and every person.

A glass enclosed wall case follows, and it usually has a display of pictures celebrating the current jubilarians. It is a present connection to the past displayed on the panels in the Heritage Room.

A Papal Blessing is next and following that is a large panel with the community name and symbol.  It is directly facing the stairwell so it is the first visual one sees from that perspective.

Several framed lists of all the Sisters of the Province who have died are posted, many of the Sisters whose pictures and history we saw in the timeline panels.

Next is a photo gallery of all the Provincial Superiors, which continues on the opposite wall. After the stairway opening, there are two original paintings, an outdoor winter scene painted by Sr. Cecilia Adamic and our orphanage in Kansas City painted by Marijana  Grisek.

A wall map follows showing the presence of our Sisters in the United States from 1909-2008. Although many of those places no longer have our Sisters’ presence, at one time we served from California to Pennsylvania and many places in-between.

The doorway on the left leads to our second Heritage Room. Here our connection to our Sisters in the other eight Provinces and the Region of Rome is seen in the many artifacts that we in the United States have received from them over the years.  Also displayed are the many artifacts made by the Sisters in this Province, as well as some gifts to the Sisters.

Other items in the room include some Congregational/Community documents from an original copy of our first Constitutions of 1922 to the most recently approved Constitutions of 2008.

In the center of the room is a table covered in a beautiful cutwork tablecloth handmade by our Sr. Bernadette and her twin sister, Sr. Celine, under the guidance of their older sister Anna when they were still young girls. This space is used for special displays. The most recent display was of Nativity sets representing different countries, using gifts we have received over the years from the Provinces.

This room is also an archive for many items that are seldom displayed but are part of our history. There are over 80 photo albums plus hundreds of pictures yet to be documented, the 60 years worth of Mt. Assisi Academy yearbooks, many artifacts from other Provinces not on current display, and items not yet discovered and documented.

Back in the hallway, to the left is another picture gallery, this time of all the previous General Superiors as well as the current General Superior.

The final image is a massive world map showing the presence of our Sisters in the region of Rome and our nine provinces throughout the world. In 1869  that small group of Sisters  beginning a new community could never have imagined the world-wide impact they would one day have.

Getting back on the elevator, you can’t help but feel a sense of joy and awe at what has been and continues to be the story of the School Sisters of St. Francis of Christ the King.

If you have not yet come to Mt. Assisi Convent to see our Heritage Space, you will want to add it to your plans for the future. We welcome you to share our history.