FRANCISCANS OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF BONLANDEN. — They were founded in 1856 at Bonlanden in Germany by the priest Faustino Mentel (1824–89) and by Paolina Gross with the rule of the Third Order, to assist the poor and the unemployed. Spread in Germany, they have been in Argentina since 1906, since 1928 in Brazil and in the United States. The Congregation now counts 19 houses with 290 religious.
BIBL.: Kloster und Kongregation Bonlanden, Nuremberg 1931; A. Sminsen, Katholische Frauengotteschaften Deutschlands, 2nd ed., Düsseldorf 1933, pp. 112–15. Cesario van Hulst