Religious T's

The present-day Franciscan provinces in the US trace their origins to friars who came to minister to the tidal wave of Catholic immigrants who arrived in the country between 1840 and 1920. These friars belonged to two of the families of stricter observance: Reformed and Recollect Franciscans. These two observances, as well as the Discalced Franciscans, were merged with the friars of the Regular Observance by the Leonine Union of 1897 to form the modern Order of Friars Minor.