POOR SCHOOL SISTERS OF THE THIRD ORDER OF ST FRANCIS. – Founded by St SEBASTIAN SCHWARZ, parish priest at Vöcklabruck (diocese of Linz).
In 1842 he began to gather some abandoned children in his own home, entrusting their care to two young women from the parish. The experiment was successful and soon the number of those assisted and of the assistants—who at first came from the Congregation of the Sisters of the Schools of Algersdorf—multiplied; but on 11 November 1851 the house at Vöcklabruck was declared independent and with its own novitiate. At the outset, the separation was opposed by the bishop of Linz, who later in 1861 recognised it and erected it as a congregation with simple vows. Having soon spread throughout Austria, the Institute received the decree of praise on 26 April 1929, and on 21 August 1937 the definitive approval of the Institute and its Constitutions. At present the sisters number 791, distributed in 67 houses.