Southern New Jersey experienced a rapid growth in population immediately preceding and during World War II. Many of the new residents were Catholic, and their fast influx demanded the formation of new parishes and facilities. In the early 1940s, Bishop Bartholomew J. Eustace invited the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany to build a hospital in the Diocese of Camden. Bishop Eustace knew of the Sisters when they cared for his mother during her final years at their hospital, St. Elizabeth's, in New York City.
