Brother John's health. Feeling his end approaching, he appointed Brother Bonaventure Schäben as the new Superior General. When Höver died on 13 July 1864, the community had twenty-six members and some postulants. Expansion Under the leadership of Brother John, and under the watchful eye and guidance of the diocesan clergy, to whom they were subject, the young Congregation grew rapidly and spread from its cradle in Aachen to other parts of Germany. In 1866 the Congregation spread to the United States, where orphanages for boys were established in Teutopolis, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; Cincinnati, Ohio (1868) and Cold Spring, Kentucky (1869), through a donation by Sarah Worthington Peter. In 1869 the Congregation also received the charge of a Catholic orphanage in Moabit, near Berlin. During the Austro-Prussian war in 1866, and in the Franco-Prussian war, 1870–71, the Poor Brothers helped in the field hospitals. However, the policy of Kulturkampf by the German government led to the loss of all their houses in Prussia during 1876-77. They then moved to Bleijerheide on the German-Dutch border, where the new motherhouse was erected. After 1888 the Brothers were allowed to return to Prussia and entirely new houses were founded: Hohenhof in Upper Silesia (1891); Dormagen on the Rhine (1902), Düsseldorf (1932), etc. At the last location, they currently run a senior housing complex for 189 residents, and various social services and a trade school. Foundations were also made in Belgium at Völkerich (1900) and in the Netherlands at Roermond (1903). The Constitution of the Congregation was approved by Pope Pius X in 1910. With that, they became a congregation of Pontifical (international) right, generally free to conduct their affairs without the supervision of local bishops. In 1921 the American Brothers began to work in Arkansas, where they established several institutions over the next fifteen years. They also expanded to Iowa, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas and South Dakota, mostly in the field of youth work. In 1986, they purchased the Woodlands Treatment Center, a facility for drug and alcohol dependent youth in Burlington, Iowa. By 1998, through the steady retirement and departure of members, total membership of the American province sank to 24 professed members dispersed across several assignments at schools, prisons and hospitals. The Morris School for Boys, established in 1922 near Searcy, Arkansas, continues to be the brothers' primary ministry. The order's motherhouse remains in Aachen and the order maintains houses in Brazil,