In 1894 four Bernardine Franciscan Sisters migrated

from Poland to the United States with Mother Veronica

Grzedowska as the leader of the group. They were

immigrants coming to a new country to work with and

for other immigrants. Reading, PA was where they

established their first permanent home and ministry.

They built St. Francis Orphanage which evolved into a

grade school, then a high school, and eventually the first

building that housed Alvernia University. Throughout

the 120 years from when our Sisters arrived in the

United States they have cared for and responded to the

needs of people in many countries and cultures. It is in

this spirit that they have responded to the request of

people who are strangers in the United States and

established Mother Veronica Resource Center on South

6th Street in Reading, PA