The Institute of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary began in 1872 and the world, the church and religious life have changed dramatically since then. At the height of the missionary era, our Institute numbered eleven thousand sisters. Its membership was drawn from all five continents and from over seventy different countries. By the turn of the 21st century the numbers had decreased to eight thousand but the membership remains rich in cultural diversity. We continue our presence in all parts of the globe.

The Foundress of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, Helene de Chappotin, was born in France in 1839.
 

Helene de Chappotin was beatified by the Catholic Church in 2000.

The FMM Institute started in Australia in 1941, when three sisters came from China to work at the Queensland Diocesan Seminary at Banyo.

Over the next few years, in spite of the difficulties in travel during World War II, more sisters came from India, the USA, Canada, England and Ireland. They set up a variety of ministries in Palm and Fantome Islands, Sydney and Melbourne.

In 1944 they opened a novitiate in Brisbane for receiving Australian women and by 1948 these women were working in India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. European sisters expelled from China in the 1949 revolution also joined the Australian communities giving them the distinctive international character of FMM life.

Since the opening of the novitiate in 1944 over 100 Australian FMM's have moved into more than thirty different countries in all five continents and over 100 sisters from as many different countries have come to Australia to share its life and to give their service.

Currently Australians living overseas are in Rome, Israel, South Africa, Ethiopia, Pakistan and Canada.

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