That Woman's A Saint

The ranks of American saints are swelling! I was going to place this in a "potpourri" installment, but decided the least I could offer Mother Theodora Guérin on the occasion of her canonization last week was her own post. From inauspicious beginnings...

While teaching and caring for the sick in France, Mother Theodore, then known as Sister St. Theodore, was asked to lead a small missionary band of Sisters of Providence to the United States of America to establish a motherhouse and novitiate, to open schools and to share the love of God with pioneers in the Diocese of Vincennes in the state of Indiana.Humble and prone to feelings of unworthiness, Mother Theodore could not imagine that she was suitable for such a mission.

In addition, her health was fragile, and she was able to consume only soft, bland foods and liquids. Her physical condition added to her doubts about accepting the mission to the United States. Nevertheless, after hours of prayer and lengthy consultations with her superiors, she accepted the mission.

Equipped with little more than a steadfast desire to serve God, Mother Theodore and her five companion sisters arrived at the site of their mission at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind., the evening of Oct. 22, 1840, and immediately hastened along a muddy, narrow path to the tiny log cabin that served as the chapel and as the dwelling place for a priest.

To great things...

Less than a year after arriving at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Mother Theodore opened the congregation’s first academy, which now is known as Saint Mary-of-the- Woods College. In 1842, she established schools at Jasper and St. Mary-of-the Woods Village in Indiana and at St. Francisville, Ill.
By the time of her death on May 14, 1856, Mother Theodore had opened schools in towns throughout Indiana, and the Congregation of the Sisters of Providence was strong, viable and respected.