Road to Providence

Canonization Mass Saint Mary-of-the-Woods
Picture taken
October 15, 2006

It was our privilege to attend the canonization Mass at "The Woods" the same day as Mass was celebrated in Rome. It was exhilarating and exciting. As an alumnus of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College there was also a certain amount of pride.

Mother Theodore Guerin

Born October 2, 1789, in France, Anne Therese Guerin joined the Sisters of Providence of Ruille-sur-Loire at age 25, making her vows as Sr. Theodore in 1825.

Initially, she taught, but later she studied pharmacy and medicine. Then, in the late 1830's, the new bishop of Vincennes, Indiana (which included all of Indiana and a third of Illinois), began recruiting Catholic sister from his native France to serve in his diocese.

When her mother superior asked Sr. Theodore to volunteer for this mission, the nun initially declined, citing health problems. but, after much prayer, and although her training and gifts lay in other areas, she finally said yes.

On October 22, 1840, she and five other sisters arrived at a log farmhouse in a settlement named Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana. They soon opened an academy for girls which became Saint Mary-of -the Woods College.

Sr. Theodore founded the congregation of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods in the United States. But her time in the United States was not easy. The territory was considered the American Frontier, and she also faced much anti-Catholic sentiment. Her efforts to begin the new congregation were opposed by the local bishop who wanted to control her congregation and the deed to the land the sisters owned. At one point, he excommunicated St. Theodore--which her bishop in France reversed.

Mother Theodore Guerin died May 14, 1856.
On October 15, 2006, she became the eighth canonized saint from the United States.

The Little White Book

~~~~~

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College is a wonderful institution of learning. It offers a variety of options for a degree including the WED (Women's External Degree) program. I was my honor to have graduated in 1994. It is a glorious campus and a remarkable place to learn.

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!