History

Take a journey in time as we identify highlights and key points throughout the history of OSF HealthCare Heart of Mary Medical Center.

1800's

1860 – Father Francis Delaplace founded the religious congregation called Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary. Father Delaplace was moved by the orphaned and homeless children in Paris, France. He requested the help of Marie Moisan, and they searched for a way to respond to the children’s needs. Eventually they found a home where the children could gather and, in doing so, they began an orphanage. They sought help from other women to assist with the new ministry.
1860s – Marie Moisan and her associates requested a simple rule of life and to pronounce religious vows. The congregation of the Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary began.
1870s – During the Franco-Prussian War, the Sisters were initiated into health care as they helped care for the wounded in and around Paris.
1889 – The Sisters responded to a request to serve St. Viator’s College in Bourbonnais, Illinois.
1895 – The Sisters went on to teach at a parish school in Beaverville, Illinois. During this same time, three women from that community requested to enter the congregation, beginning the American novitiate.
1897 – The Emergency Hospital in Kankakee, Illinois, was opened, with the Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary taking an active role in the operations of the hospital. Eventually, this hospital was renamed Presence St. Mary’s Hospital.

1919 – Father Flynn at St. Mary’s Parish in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, requested the Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary to assume responsibility for a new Catholic hospital in that community. At that time, there were no sisters available to meet that request. Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross were available, so the hospital was named Mercy Hospital.
When the Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross found it necessary to withdraw from Mercy Hospital, seven Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary, led by Mother St. Louis Blais, were ready to leave St. Mary’s Hospital in Kankakee to begin a new ministry at Mercy Hospital.
The health care ministry of the Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary continued to grow as did the two hospitals that were run by the Sisters.

Mid-1960s – Board membership opened to include members of the civic communities served by the hospitals.

1981 – The Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary purchased Briarcliff Manor in Bourbonnais. It was renamed Presence Our Lady of Victory Nursing Home.
1982 – St. Mary’s Hospital, Mercy Hospital and Presence Our Lady of Victory Nursing Home united to form ServantCor, a health care system headquartered in Kankakee.
1989 – Mercy Hospital merged with Burnham City Hospital in Champaign to form Provena Covenant Medical Center.

1997 – In December, the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart, the Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary, and the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas created Provena Health, and a new era of growth began.

2011 – In November, through the merger of Provena Health and Resurrection Health Care, Presence Health was created. Provena Covenant Medical Center became Presence Covenant Medical Center.
2017 – In August, OSF HealthCare, under the sponsorship of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, signed a letter of intent to take ownership of Presence Covenant Medical Center.
2018 – In February, the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis renamed Presence Covenant Medical Center to OSF HealthCare Heart of Mary Medical Center to honor the legacy of the Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary.