The Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary are a predominantly African-American religious congregation of Roman Catholic women who follow the Rule of the Third Order of St. Francis of Assisi. Their primary mission has always been education, primarily of the children of the African-American community.
History
Founding
Elizabeth Williams was born February 11, 1868, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She received her education from the "Ladies of the Sacred Heart" and from the Sisters of the Holy Family, second oldest society of African-American religious in the United States. At 19, Williams entered the Sisters of Saint Francis Convent in Louisiana. When that order disbanded in 1912, she entered the novitiate of the Oblate Sisters of Providence in Baltimore where she was received as a novice and given the name, Sister Mary Theodore. In 1915, while working at Trinity College in Washington, she learned that Father Ignatius Lissner, provincial of the Fathers of the Society of African Missions, needed a religious to found a congregation of black sisters in Savannah.
A bill in the Georgia Legislature proposed to forbid white teachers from instructing black children. It threatened the closure of joint schools founded by Father Lissner in Georgia and staffed by Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception. When two African-American congregations, the Oblate Sisters of Providence and the Holy Family Sisters, could supply no help, Lissner decided to form a new one. On October 15, 1916, Elizabeth Williams received the habit of the new order and took the name of Mother Mary Theodore. The bill never passed, but the Sisters found little support in Georgia. They taught by day and, to supplement their meagre earnings, ran a laundry business at night and begged along the waterfront on weekends. Thus the sisters decided in 1924 to move the motherhouse of the congregation to the Harlem in northern Manhattan, where it remains. By 1925, there were sixteen members, eventually including women from the West Indies. In 1930, Mother Theodore had the congregation enrolled in the Franciscan family as members of the Third Order Regular, thus becoming the Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary. During the Depression, the Sisters established a soup kitchen. Mother Theodore died in New York in August 1931. From 1952 to 2003 the sisters ran a summer camp on Staten Island, providing summer getaways for thousands of youth from New York City and North and South Carolina.
Present day
At its height in the 1960s, the congregation counted 80 Sisters. As of 2010, there were 18 Sisters, mostly age sixty or older. In 2014, the order's closing was anticipated, but encouraged by Pope Francis, the sisters extended their outreach to other parts of the United States, the Caribbean, and Africa. In 2016, there were nine sisters in formation. The sisters continue to operate St. Benedict’s Day Nursery. Founded in 1923, at the request of Patrick Cardinal Hayes, it celebrated its 85th anniversary in 2008. Initially providing custodial care, it became one of the first pre-school educational programs in the United States. The St. Edward Food Pantry is one of the ministries of The Franciscan Handmaids of Mary. The order has operated a food pantry on Staten Island since 1928. The Food Pantry collects food, clothing, gifts and toys for distribution during the Christmas season. In recognition of its outstanding accomplishments in the fight against hunger, the St. Edward Food Pantry was awarded the Kathy Goldman Beyond Food Award at the 15th Annual Food Bank of New York Conference in 2006.
