October 1868, the Vicar General of Chicago, Fr. Peter Fischer, asked for three Sisters to serve in a German orphanage on the north side of Chicago. On November 10, 1868, they began their ministry at Angel Guardian Orphanage. The orphanage closed in 1978. In the early 1920s the Motherhouse in America moved from Fort Wayne, Indiana to Donaldson. In 1937 the Poor Handmaids established Ancilla College as an extension of DePaul University to train candidates and novices. In 1966 Ancilla became a two-year private junior college. In 2021 Ancilla College merged into Marian University. The American Province is headquartered in Donaldson, Indiana. Present day The Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ is an international congregation of apostolic women religious within the Roman Catholic Church. They minister with the poor, the sick and children in Germany, the Netherlands (1859), United States (1868), England (1876), India (1970), Mexico (1988), Brazil (1993), Kenya (2000), and Nigeria (2006). With prayer and community living as their foundation, they minister in rural, urban and inner city settings in the Midwest (USA). In Kenya, they run the St. Anne Mission hospital, which is sponsored by the Diocese of Meru. The Notre Dame Archives is the repository for the Archives of the American Province of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ. References External links Poor Handmaids, Province of St. Mary, Bangalore Catholic female orders and societies