Sisters of St. Joseph
In 1902 nine Sisters of St. Joseph from the mother-house at Le Puy took charge of the school in the French parish of St-Roch, Fall River, Massachusetts. The accession of other members from the mother-house enabled the community to take charge of three other schools in the city attached to French parishes. In 1906 St. Theresa's Convent was formally opened as the provincial house of the community, which was legally incorporated in the same year, and a novitiate was established. In the mid 1970s, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Fall River merged with the Springfield Congregation.
Franciszek Chalupka
At that time, the parish St. Joseph's Society numbered 450 members. As a result of some misunderstanding, the Society was divided into three groups, and one of them broke away, to organize its own National Church in 1903, while the other two groups remained with the parish and adopted the name St. Joseph's Society and the Society of King John Sobieski. As a result of this Fr. Chalupka resigned from the parish and in 1908, moved to Turners Falls, where he began overseeing the construction of the new church.