Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary
The Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary (F.H.M.) are a historically Black Catholic religious sisters’ community in the United States. They were founded in 1916 in Savannah, Georgia, by Mary Theodore Williams and Ignatius Lissner, S.M.A., and follow the Franciscan Third Order Regular.
Their main mission has always been education, especially for children in the African-American community. The founders started this new group when a Georgia bill threatened to bar white teachers from instructing Black children, leaving Black communities with few options. Williams, who became Sister Mary Theodore, and Lissner organized Black sisters to teach and care for their communities.
In 1924 the sisters moved their motherhouse to Harlem, New York. In 1930 they were enrolled in the Franciscan family as members of the Third Order Regular, taking the name Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary. During the Depression, the sisters opened a soup kitchen to help those in need.
Mary Theodore Williams died in 1931. The order conducted a summer camp on Staten Island from 1952 to 2003, serving thousands of New York City youth and children from North and South Carolina. The peak size was about 80 sisters in the 1960s. By 2010 there were 18 sisters, mostly older.
In 2014, Pope Francis encouraged the order to expand, and by 2017 there were 24 sisters, with seven in formation. The Harlem motherhouse was sold as the number of sisters declined. The sisters continue their work through St. Benedict’s Day Nursery, founded in 1923, and the St. Edward Food Pantry on Staten Island, which has operated since 1928.
Today the Franciscan Handmaids serve in Harlem, Staten Island, Yonkers, and Owerri, Nigeria, remaining part of the Catholic Church with headquarters in New York City.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 02:53 (CET).