 A French Canadian immigrant community had begun to flourish in Yorkville at that time, and found it trying to make the trip downtown for services.A missionary to this community found that services closer to home would be beneficial, similar to those the Jesuits at what is now St. Ignatius Loyola had organized for Yorkville's Germans.The order's provincial gave his support for the establishment of a national parish, and a meeting of the immigrants' St. Jean Societé in 1881 raised $12 ($ in contemporary dollars) to that end.