The Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth (CSFN) are an international congregation of vowed religious women dedicated to spreading the Kingdom of God’s love, particularly within families. 

They do this by serving families through active ministry in schools, hospitals, parishes, prisons and social service agencies.  The sisters also spread the Kingdom through their daily living in a community of prayer and commitment to God and the Holy Family.  

Today, this vision of Nazareth is being lived by some 1,400 sisters serving in 12 countries; they are joined by 700 lay associates.

Holy Family Province, the U.S. province of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, has some 340 sisters serving in Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Puerto Rico. The Provincialate is located in Des Plaines, IL, a Chicago suburb.

Holy Family Province: Organized in 2007, with roots to 1885

In May 2007, the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth (CSFN) across the United States celebrated a new chapter in the life of the congregation as the five U.S. provinces joined together canonically as a single U.S. province – the new Holy Family Province.

Back in 1885, our foundress, Blessed Mary of Jesus the Good Shepherd (Frances Siedliska) came to Chicago with a small band of sisters dedicated to serving the families of immigrants from Poland.  They first served at St. Josaphat’s Parish on Chicago’s North Side; rather quickly, their ministry expanded to include health care, education and pastoral ministry.  That same year, they established a U.S. Provincialate in Chicago.  

The sisters soon brought their ministry to families east, into Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York; new provinces were established Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.  Their growth continued, into Michigan, Alabama, Florida and Puerto Rico.  From Philadelphia, the CSFNs expanded their ministry to New York, New Jersey and the New England states.  Mid-century, a new province was established in Monroe, CT.

From Chicago and Des Plaines, the sisters expanded their health care ministry to east Texas, where they staffed the new Mother Frances Hospital in 1937 in Tyler, TX.  Over the years, that ministry expanded into other southwestern states, and the CSFNs eventually created a fifth province based Grand Prairie, TX, near Dallas.

In a sense, the CSFNs returned to their roots in 2007 when the U.S. sisters joined together as a single U.S. province, with central offices (the Provincialate) in Des Plaines, IL.