Mother Frances' parentage, place and date of birth are not recorded in the Oblate archives. There is some indication that her father was a Protestant minister. She received her early education in Canada and was taught by the Grey Nuns. After entering the convent in 1875, she was assigned to the Motherhouse until 1881 when she went to St. Louis. Mother M. Magdalen Cratin chose Sister M. Frances to be one of the four pioneers in Cuba in 1900. In 1909, while she was in Cuba, Sister Frances was elected Superior general.

On April 6, 1910, Reverend Alfred Bradford Leeson, assembled the Oblate community and solemnly installed Sister Mary Frances Fieldien as eighth Superior general. Mother Frances died exactly 15 years later on Monday in Holy Week, April 6, 1925.

Two years after Mother Frances' election, fire broke out in the Chase Street buildings. The cause was never discovered. A fire drill evacuated the building. Sixty boarders and ninety orphans marched out to safety without excitement. Three aged and ill Sisters did not fare so well. They had to be carried to safety by firemen. The rescued Sisters were then welcomed into the home of Warden Leonard of the nearby Maryland Penitentiary.

In May 1912 Mother Frances had to participate in a dispute between the Oblates in St. Louis and the Jesuit Fathers of St. Louis over a ten thousand dollar legacy willed by a Mr. Thomas F. Hayden to the Oblate Sisters of Providence. One result of the confrontation was cessation of Oblate service to St. Elizabeth's parish and the beginning of Saint Rita Academy. This was done with the approval of His Excellency Archbishop John J. Glennon, in July 1912.

During Mother Frances' twelve years as superior general, St. Rita Academy was housed in three different location, first 3009 Pine Street then 3128 Laclede in 1914, and finally 4650 South Broadway in 1921. St. Peter's and Immaculate Conception Schools opened in Charleston, South Carolina in 1917. Mother accepted and staffed these schools which were under the care of the Holy Ghost Fathers.

Mother Frances continually sought ways (and funding) for the Sisters to obtain higher education. Such education was a necessity if the Sisters were to teach in accredited schools. In 1917, Mother Frances appealed to the Xaverian Brothers, who commissioned Brother Simeon to organize summer college courses for the Sisters. These classes continued until 1926, when colleges and universities previously closed to the Oblate Sisters, for racial reasons, were opened to them.