FRANCISCAN NUNS STILL CARE FOR SICK AT ST. FRANCIS MEDICAL CENTER

They are much less visible than they were years ago, but nuns still care for the sick at St. Francis Hospital.

Although there are just five active Franciscan nuns at St. Francis, they've been the backbone of the hospital for 118 years.

"At one point in time at the old hospital, they worked as nurses and anesthesiologists," said Arthur Kelly, director of pastoral care at the hospital.

But as their numbers dwindled, the nuns began to take on different jobs, Kelly said. Most of them now work in pastoral care, he said.

"But the mission is the same as its always been, to take care of the spiritual needs of the patients," he said.

It was the Franciscan Sisters who founded the hospital in 1875. A trio of nuns, Sisters Philomena, Engelberta and Felicitas traveled from Carondelet to Cape Girardeau after Father Joseph Schmidt of St. Mary's parish here asked them to come and care for the sick.

The sisters rented a two-story frame house that could accommodate 12 patients. It was immediately filled. Several years later, the first permanent St. Francis Hospital was built at the corner of William and Sprigg. The sisters lived and worked there.

When the hospital continued to grow, it was inevitable that a bigger building would have to be constructed. It was the sisters who launched a fund raising campaign. In 1914, the hospital's former building at Pacific and Good Hope was completed.

The nuns stayed with the hospital after it moved to Mount Auburn and Route K in the mid-1970s

Kelly said 15 to 20 years ago, as many as 40 nuns worked at the hospital. Many have returned to their mother house in Weaton, Ill., he said. A few have family in Southeast Missouri, places like Leopold, Kelso and Oran, and they have stayed, he said.

Though at least four of the five nuns at St. Francis don't wear the traditional habits or even a veil, Kelly said, their presence is felt by patients.

"They symbolize Christian healing, and that's what a Christian hospital is all about. The nuns are known for caring love and kindness," he said.

One of the nuns works in pastoral care at the hospital. Others work in occupational therapy and rehabilitation of heart patients.

Kelly said most of all, the presence of the nuns is a comfort to patients of all religions.

"They never try to make a Catholic out of a Baptist, they just try to bring the spiritual aspect into healing," Kelly said. The nuns declined to be interviewed.

Kelly said hospital ministry is changing in a sense that more and more lay people are getting involved in it. And as the number of nuns working at the hospital continues to dwindle, they are a much needed asset.

"More and more people are becoming spiritually minded. They know religion isn't just for priests and nuns. And in a sense, they are taking the place of the nuns," he said.

Kelly said the nuns make a special impression on patients. One nun who no longer works at the hospital is still talked about by former patients. Her name was Sister John.

"She used to go from room to room at night and say the Lord's Prayer with every single patient, whether they were Catholic or not," Kelly said. "People still come up to me and say they remember her."