The Franciscan Order was founded by Saint Francis of Assisi over 800 years ago. His vision was simple: witness to the Gospel by living in fraternity observing holy obedience and chastity, without appropriating anything to oneself either as an individual or as a community. In 1844, Archbishop John Baptist Purcell asked Franciscan Friars from the Tyrol in Austria to come to Cincinnati to assist with the German speaking immigrants. And so Saint John the Baptist Province began. Quickly our numbers increased and we ministered in Oldenburg and Lafayette, IN; Emporia, KS; Bloomington, IL; Detroit, MI; and Chatham, ON, Canada. By the turn of the century our outreach included the Navajo Reservations in New Mexico and Arizona and, soon after, the Pueblo Reservations and Hispanic communities in New Mexico. Later, missionaries went to China and the Philippines and, more recently, Jamaica. Today we serve in 10 states from Pennsylvania to Arizona, Michigan to Louisiana, and in the Philippines, Japan, and Jamaica. Our ministries presently include parishes, hospital and academic chaplaincies, inner-city outreach, preaching, teaching, nursing, and evangelization. Franciscan Media (formerly Saint Anthony Messenger Press) continues to preach the Word through St. Anthony Messenger Magazine, and through other printed and electronic media. True to Saint Francis’ vision, our ministries continue to evolve according to the needs of the Church and the talents and abilities of the Friars.