Mary Alfred Moes

Mary Alfred Moes (born Maria Katherine Moes; October 28, 1828 – December 18, 1899) was a Roman Catholic nun who was instrumental in establishing first the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate in Joliet, Illinois, as well as the Sisters of Saint Francis of Rochester, Minnesota. She was also the founder of St. Mary's Hospital, Rochester, Minnesota, which became part of the famed Mayo Clinic. Moes had been given a vision from God of a great hospital rising out of the cornfields around Rochester–the little country town, with its one doctor. To that hospital, she had been told in her vision, would come patients from every part of the world and from every nation. And she had seen the name ‘Mayo’ respected the world over for surgical achievements.

Early life Moes was born in Remich, Luxembourg, the daughter of a prosperous ironsmith. She emigrated to America with her sister, Catherine, due to the preaching of Bishop John Henni of Milwaukee. Bishop Henni spoke of the need for teachers in the United States, especially among the Native Americans. There were also large immigrant communities, mostly German-speaking, establishing themselves there. Both were highly educated in music and arts. Besides their own Luxembourgish language, they spoke and studied in French, German and English. They had also studied mathematics and architecture. The Moes sisters left a life of comfort and set sail from Le Havre, France on September 27, 1851, destined for New York City. From 1852-1863 they lived first in Wisconsin, with the School Sisters of Notre Dame in Milwaukee. Mary was dismissed for both a 'lack of a religious spirit' and 'want of a calling.' Both sisters then joined the Sisters of the Holy Cross in La Porte, Indiana. While there, the sisters took religious vows and assumed the names of Sister Alfred and Sister Barbara. Sister Alfred was dismissed from the congregation for 'acting impudently' and 'repeated disobedience.' The Moes sisters, with two companions, were received into the Third Order of St. Francis in Illinois, on June 1, 1863.

The sisters began to open a series of successful schools. Following a tornado, which devastated the young city of Rochester in 1883, Moes saw the need for a hospital in the town. She proposed to Dr. William Worrall Mayo that the sisters would operate a hospital for the injured and sick if he and his sons would serve as its physicians. Thus they opened St. Mary's Hospital on September 30, 1889. Today that hospital is a part of the Mayo Clinic.

Moes died in 1899, aged 71.