Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center wrapped up celebrations of the Medical Center’s 125th anniversary with a special mass said on November 20 by Most Reverend Bishop Roger L. Kaffer, Auxiliary Bishop of Joliet (retired). The Mass of Thanksgiving brought many generations of the Medical Center together on the 90th anniversary of the death of Mother Anastasia Bischler.
  

It was in 1876 that Mother Anastasia Bischler and several other Sisters of the order of the Franciscan Order of the Sacred Heart set sail for America. The group proceeded to Fort Wayne, Indiana where Father Duehmig and the Most Reverend Joseph Dwenger, Bishop of the Diocese of Fort Wayne, welcomed them. The Sisters founded a motherhouse in nearby Avilla, and began to grow. Mother Anastasia, aware of her spiritual responsibilities to the rest of the Sisters, arranged for a retreat to be given by Reverend Gerhard Becker of Saint John’s Church in Joliet, Illinois. After meeting the Sisters, the Reverend met with the Archbishop Feehan of Chicago to discuss plans for the founding of a new hospital. It became the wish of these men that the hospital would be entrusted to the Franciscan Sisters. In December of 1880, the Reverend wrote to Sister Anastasia requesting only two or three Sisters. The Reverend arranged a visit in Indiana with the Sisters, and thus some of the Sisters came to Joliet to aide with the typhoid fever and smallpox epidemics. After these ended, the people of Joliet gathered $600 to give to the Sisters to start a hospital in Joliet.

“It was my privilege to substitute for Cardinal Cody for your 100th anniversary celebration, and today it is my privilege to celebrate this mass concluding your 125th jubilee year!” said Bishop Kaffer. “But it’s probably fitting, because I’m quite sure Sister Bernadette, the nun-burse in charge of the delivery room at the old Saint Joseph Hospital on Broadway was the first human being to hold me when I was born there, even before my mother did. Congratulations to all the sisters of St. Francis of the Sacred Heart, on your 125th anniversary, to Jeffrey L. Brickman, to the Board members, and the staff, administration, physicians, volunteers and Auxilians today.”

Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center is extremely proud of the compassionate care and service we have provided to the community for 125 years. We began with Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart who came to America to teach religion and found their way to Joliet to nurse the sick during a typhoid epidemic. Today, we are the physicians, nurses, Sisters, healthcare workers, volunteers, Auxilians, and office staff that work every day to provide the highest quality of care for our patients.

Though the past 125 years have seen tremendous growth and evolving of services, procedures, technology, diagnosis, and potential, one thing has never changed: Our commitment to providing our patients with compassionate care in the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

For more on the history of Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center, including historical information and timelines, visit the "About Us" section of our website.