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.
St. Joseph's Church (Fall River, Massachusetts)
Mention may be made briefly of a large Sunday School for boys and girls, an Altar Society for married women that approaches the communion table on the first Sunday of each month, a League of the Sacred heart for men and women that receives the sacrament on the first Friday, the Children of Mary Sodality on the second Sunday, the Holy Name Society and the Holy Angels' Sodality on the third Sunday and the Sacred Heart Society for boys on the fourth Sunday. The members of the Children of Mary Sodality gather on the Monday evening following their communion for religious instruction from their chaplain, Reverend Father Thomas J. McLean, and the Holy Name Society members on the night of their communion for religious instruction from their director, Reverend Father Thomas P. Doherty. It is Reverend Father Boylan's custom to arrange for special sermons during the Lenten periods of each year, with Missionary Fathers as the speakers, and during the Lenten season just closed the preachers were Dominican Fathers from the Providence College.