Leaning on Providence: The remarkable journey of Indiana’s first saint
By John Shaughnessy
Two of her siblings were killed in fires as children, and her father was murdered during a robbery.
Young Anne-Therese Guérin still kept her focus on serving God.
Shortly after Guérin joined the Sisters of Providence in France when she was 24, the newly named Sister Theodore suffered an illness that threatened her life.
She still kept her focus on serving God.
With the debilitating illness continuing to haunt her, Sister Theodore was asked to travel to America as the leader of five other religious sisters, with the goal of establishing a school for children in the wilderness of Indiana.
Their 1840 journey across the Atlantic Ocean by ship took months and was often harrowing. Their trip to Indiana was hard too—and made all the worse when they arrived in the area near Terre Haute and discovered that the home and the school that were promised to them weren’t ready.
Mother Theodore, as she was known then as the leader of the band of missionary sisters, kept her focus on serving God, living up to one of her beliefs that guided her life, “Lean with all your weight on Providence, and you will be well cared for.”
While still dealing with her continuing illness and after enduring a bitterly cold Indiana winter in a drafty house with little food, Mother Theodore led the other sisters to open a school in July of 1841, a school that would become Saint Mary-of-the Woods College.
Yet even that monumental effort—after just eight months in Indiana—didn’t lead to a welcomed path ahead for her. She faced prejudice against Catholics by people in the surrounding community and a bias against women who were strong leaders. That second challenge even led to a conflict with the local bishop who imprisoned her in a room for a day, later excommunicated her and removed her from the congregation of sisters.
Still, Mother Theodore persevered against the odds, the prejudices and the challenges, following the advice that she shared with others, “Place yourself gently in the hands of Providence.”
She felt God was with her when the bishop resigned and she was returned to the Church and as the leader of the sisters. Under her leadership, Catholic education began to grow and flourish throughout Indiana.
The website for the Sisters of Providence of Saint-Mary-of-the-Woods lists all the establishments that were opened by Mother Theodore: “Schools in Jasper, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods Village, Vincennes, Montgomery, Madison, Terre Haute, Fort Wayne, Evansville, North Madison, Lanesville and Columbus, all in Indiana; and St. Francisville in Illinois.
“Also, two orphanages in Vincennes, one for girls, the other for boys. In addition, Mother Theodore opened pharmacies where free remedies were dispensed to the poor at Vincennes and Saint Mary-of-the Woods.”
Leaving that legacy of care and commitment in America’s Midwest, Mother Theodore died in 1856 at the age of 57.
In 1909, the cause for her sainthood was opened. Pope Benedict XVI canonized her as a saint on Oct. 15, 2006.
The pride and love of the Sisters of Providence for her are captured in this note on the sisters’ website: “She is designated in the Vatican’s official record as Saint Theodora, but we all lovingly know her as Saint Mother Theodore Guérin. She is the eighth American saint and the first saint from the state of Indiana.”
In the remarkable journey of her life, St. Mother Theodore always kept her focus on serving God.
(The website, spsmw.org/about/saint-mother-theodore-guerin/her-story is the primary source for this story. It provides more detailed information on St. Mother Theodore’s life and legacy.) †
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