Joliet Catholic Academy was founded on the ideals and values of two religious orders: the Carmelites of the Most Pure Heart of Mary and the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate.

Their influences in the Joliet area date back to the late 1800s. In 1869, a Franciscan woman, Mother Alfred Moes, founded St. Francis Academy for girls in a small stone convent near Joliet's Illinois & Michigan Canal.