Théodore Guérin (2 October 1798 – 14 May 1856), designated by the Vatican as Saint Theodora, and born Anne-Thérèse Guérin, was a French-American saint and the foundress of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, a congregation of Catholic sisters at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana. Pope John Paul II beatified Guérin on 25 October 1998, and Pope Benedict XVI canonized her a saint of the Catholic Church on 15 October 2006. Guérin’s feast day is 3 October, although some calendars list it in the Roman Martyrology as 14 May, her day of death.

Guérin immigrated to Indiana from France in 1840, and became known for her advancement of education, especially in Indiana and in eastern Illinois; founding numerous schools including Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana; and for her care of the orphaned, the sick, and the poor of the Diocese of Vincennes, Indiana. …

Entering Religious Life

On 18 August 1823, Guérin entered the Sisters of Providence of Ruillé-sur-Loir congregation and was given the religious name of Sister Saint Théodore.[7] She professed first vows 8 September 1825, and perpetual vows, which at the time were optional, on 5 September 1831.[citation needed]

Sister Saint Théodore spent her early career as an educator, beginning as a teacher at Preuilly-sur-Claise in central France. In 1826, she began serving as a teacher and superior at the Saint Aubin parish school in Rennes before her transfer to a school at Soulaines in the Diocese of Angers. She also ministered to the needs of the area’s sick and poor and received a medal for her teaching from the inspector for the Academy of Angers. While working in France, Sister Saint Théodore became seriously ill, most likely with smallpox. Although she recovered, the illness damaged her digestive system. As a result, Sister Saint Théodore could only eat a simple, bland diet for the rest of her life.[8][9][10]

Founding a new order in Indiana

On 15 July 1840, Sister Saint Théodore and five companions (Sister Olympiade Boyer, Sister Saint Vincent Ferrer Gagé, Sister Basilide Sénéschal, Sister Mary Xavier Lerée, and Sister Mary Liguori Tiercin) departed from France to sail to the United States. After a treacherous, nearly two-month-long journey across the Atlantic Ocean, the six women traveled by steamboat and stagecoach to reach the dense forest of Indiana.[6][12][13]

On 22 October 1840, Guérin and her companions arrived at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, a small, remote village in the wilderness in Vigo County, a few miles northwest of Terre Haute. For several months the sisters lived in a small frontier farmhouse with the Thralls family, along with a few postulants who had been waiting for them when they arrived. Guérin, the foundress and superior of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, a new order that was separate from the one in France, became known as Mother Théodore.[14][15]

Life work

Guérin expanded her service to God after her immigration to the United States in 1840. She settled in western Indiana and became the devoted leader of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods congregation. Also, Guérin and the Sisters of Providence opened several schools across Indiana and eastern Illinois for the Diocese of Vincennes, Indiana, as well as ministering to the needs of orphans, the sick, and the poor.

Educator

In July 1841, less than a year after they arrived in Indiana, and despite their meager resources, Mother Théodore and the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods opened Saint Mary’s Academy for young women. The academy was the forerunner of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College.[1][16] Guérin had doubts that the new institution would succeed.[16] As she reflected in her journals, “It is astonishing that this remote solitude has been chosen for a novitiate and especially for an academy. All appearances are against it.”[17][18]

From the time of her arrival at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods in July 1840 to January 1849, Mother Théodore worked with Catholic parishes to establish parish schools at several sites within the Diocese of Vincennes.[16][19] Guérin personally directed the establishment of Saint Joseph School (1842) in Jasper;[20] Saint Anne’s Academy (1844) in Madison;[21] Saint Augustine’s (1846) in Fort Wayne;[22] and Saint Vincent’s Academy (1849) in Terre Haute, Indiana;[23] as well as a school in Saint Francisville, Illinois.

In addition to establishing schools, Mother Théodore and the Sisters of Providence cooperated with Bishop John Stephen Bazin, Hailandière’s successor, and Bishop Jacques-Maurice de Saint-Palais, Bazin’s successor, in the establishment of two orphanages in Vincennes and free pharmacies at Vincennes and Saint Mary-of-the-Woods.[30][31]

Business and congregation leader

Guérin proved to be a skilled businesswoman and leader and a beloved general superior and spiritual leader of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. She arranged to purchase a local farmhouse belonging to the Thralls family to serve as the congregation’s first convent at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. She oversaw the construction of a new Providence convent, which was formally dedicated on 7 August 1854. During the final years, Guerin was planning to build a new chapel at the convent in honor of the Blessed Virgin; however, she did not live to see it completed. The Church of the Immaculate Conception (Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana), her last major project, was completed in 1886.[6][32]

Despite numerous challenges and hardships during the congregation’s early years, which included rebuilding after destructive fires and crop failures, prudent use of limited finances, and negotiating disagreements with Catholic leaders, Guérin remained devoted to her work and the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods endured.[7] By the time of her death in May 1856, the Sisters of Providence congregation in Indiana had grown from its original six sisters and four postulants to sixty-seven professed members, nine novices, and seven postulants.[1]

Source: Theodore Guérin. Wikipedia. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0; additional terms may apply.