(From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Friars_Minor_Conventual)

The Order of Friars Minor Conventual (or Conventual Franciscans), is a mendicant Catholic religious order. It is one of three separate fraternities that make up the First Order of St. Francis, that is, the friars. The Second Order is the Poor Clares, an order of women; members of the Third Order may be men or women, secular or regular.

It is not entirely clear how the term “Conventual” arose. In the Bull Cum tamquam veri of 5 April 1250, Pope Innocent IV decreed that Franciscan churches where convents existed might be called Conventual churches, and some have maintained that the name “Conventual” was first given to the religious residing in such convents. Another view holds that word conventualis was used to distinguish the residents of large convents from those who lived more after the manner of hermits. (Although in modern usage “convents” are generally understood to mean in particular the home of female religious, just as monastery denotes that of men, originally “convent” referred to the entire community of a monastic establishment.) 

The Order of Friars Minor Conventual is spread throughout the world, and as of August 2018 included 30 provinces, 18 custodies, 460 friaries and 4048 friars. There are four provinces of Conventual Franciscans in the United States. Friars serve in parishes, schools, and as chaplains for the military and for other religious orders; they serve in various types of homes and shelters, and with Catholic Relief Services. Particular characteristics of the Conventuals’ tradition are community life and the urban apostolate. 

Friars are different from monks in that they are called to live the evangelical counsels (vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience) in service to society, rather than through cloistered asceticism. In the life of the friar, the exercise of public ministry is an essential feature, for which the life of the cloister is considered as but an immediate preparation. Whereas monks live in a self-sufficient community, friars work among laypeople and are supported by donations or other charitable support. A monk or nun often takes an additional vow of “stability”, committing themselves to a particular community in a particular place. Friars commit to a community spread across a wider geographical area known as a province, and so they may move, spending time in different houses of the community within their province.

Even though there were individual Franciscan friars who ministered to the people of North America, especially between the 1780’s and 1850’s, the permanent and abiding presence of the Friars Minor Conventual in North America began on September 14, 1852. The West Coast Province of St. Joseph of Cupertino was established in California in 1981.

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