Vol. 18 Luxembourgers in the United States: Mother Mary Alfred Moes

Mary Alfred Moes was a Luxembourg-American nun and hospital founder whose vision and determination laid the groundwork for what would become one of the most celebrated medical institutions in the world: the Mayo Clinic.

Mother Alfred was born Maria Catherine Moes in Remich, Luxembourg on October 28, 1828. Highly educated in music, arts, mathematics and architecture, she spoke Luxembourgish, French, German and later English. On September 27, 1851, inspired by the preaching of Bishop John Henni of Milwaukee about the need for teachers in America, especially among the Native Americans, she emigrated to the United States with her sister Catherine, sailing from Le Havre, France, to New York City.

From 1852 to 1863, the Moes sisters lived and worked in Wisconsin and Indiana, where they became Sisters Alfred and Barbara before joining the Franciscan Third Order Regular in 1863. Later that year, they began teaching in Joliet, Illinois, becoming the first Franciscan Sisters in the state. After a tragic lightning strike in 1864 left children orphaned, they unexpectedly began a ministry caring for orphans while also teaching and forming new Sisters. Mother Alfred was named the first General Superior of the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate in 1865, and the community expanded its educational and missionary work across several states. She also aided victims of the Great Chicago Fire and the Memphis yellow fever epidemic. Despite her success, conflicts with Church leadership led to her separation from the Joliet congregation, resulting in a new foundation in Rochester, Minnesota.

Mary Alfred Moes played a decisive and indispensable role in the origins of what would become the Mayo Clinic. After a devastating tornado struck Rochester, Minnesota, in 1883, she emerged as the key visionary who recognized that the town required a permanent hospital rather than temporary emergency care. Mother Alfred then proposed an unprecedented partnership to Dr. William Worrall Mayo: the sisters would raise funds, build and operate a hospital, while Mayo and his sons would serve as its physicians. Moes’s persistence overcame Mayo’s initial doubts. St. Mary’s Hospital opened in 1889, which eventually became the renowned Mayo Clinic. While Moes was not a physician, her vision, organizational leadership, and insistence on care for all patients made the later rise of the Mayo Clinic possible.

Moes died on December 18, 1899, aged 71, having transformed a small prairie town into a destination for patients from across the globe.