Already in 1901, the most Reverend Bishop Doebbing, Ordinary of the Diocese of Nepi and Sutri, had planned a kindergarten in Castel Sant'Elia, a town in his Diocese about thirty miles from Rome. Castel Sant'Elia was at the time and still is a very poor village. The people get very little from their very poor soil, and mothers have to go to work to
produce some meager crops for their family’s sustenance. The Bishop was well acquainted with the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother, has he had formerly been their confessor, and therefore requested their presence in Castel Sant'Elia several times. Finally in 1904 Mother Johanna, General Superior, who succeeded Mother Frances after her deposition, finally gave in to his requests. For the opening of the kindergarten, Bishop Doebbing offered the sisters a spacious house with adjacent land. The house was renovated, and on May 25, 1905, the first three sisters arrived and set up a kindergarten and sewing school, while caring for the sick in their homes. On July 2, 1905, Mother Frances was also transferred to Castel Sant'Elia and here, alternating contemplation and charitable service, she cared for the little sick children.