Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of Lons-le-Saunier. — Founded in 1857 at Maconay by the priest Roland (1794–1865), a Franciscan tertiary, for the care of orphans, home nursing, teaching, assistance to working women, etc., they spread to France, Belgium and, from 1876, to Mesopotamia. Approved by the Holy See in 1913, they now have 51 houses with 316 religious.
BIBL.: P. Norbert, Les religieuses franciscaines, Paris 1897, pp. 153–71; M. Heimbucher, Die Orden und Kongregationen der katholischen Kirche, II, 2nd ed., Paderborn 1934, p. 46. Cesario van Hulst