Biography

Anne Thérèse Guérin was born on October 2, 1798, in Brittany, France. When she was ten, she received her First Communion and expressed interest in joining a religious community when she was older. At age 15, her father was robbed and murdered while traveling. Anne soon took on the role managing the family’s property and gardens as well as caring for her younger sister and her grieving mother.
 
Due to the death of Anne’s two brothers over the years and now, the loss of her husband, Anne’s mother, Isabelle, fell into a deep depression. Anne attempted to enter a religious order five years later but opted to stay home on account of the needs of her mother. When Anne was 25, she finally received Isabelle’s blessing and, in 1823, she entered the Sisters of Providence of Ruillé-sur-Loir in France. She professed her perpetual vows in 1831 and was given the religious name of Sister Saint Théodore.
 
Sister Saint Théodore served as an educator as well as in ministry to those in need while living with the Sisters of Providence in France. At one point she became seriously ill with what is thought to have been smallpox. She survived the disease, but it left her with serious stomach and digestive problems for the rest of her life. In 1840, despite her challenging health, she and five companion sisters set sail for the United States in response to a call for the Sisters of Providence to begin a ministry in Indiana.
 
After a difficult, months-long journey, Sister Saint Théodore and her companion sisters established themselves in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, a small, remote village in the wilderness in Indiana. There, they founded the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods and Sister Saint Théodore became the superior of the community, taking the name Mother Théodore.
 
During the time Mother Théodore served as leader of the congregation, the Sisters opened schools, orphanages, and free pharmacies, all over the region. She also was able to raise funds and oversee the building of an entire church as well as a convent for the Sisters. During her service in Indiana, the Sisters of Providence grew from it’s original six members to include sixty-seven professed members as well as many novices and postulants!
 
Mother Théodore died at the age of 57 after suffering for two months with another illness. Her grave in the Sisters of Providence Cemetery in Indiana bears an inscription in Latin that says “I sleep, but my heart watches over this house which I built.” In 1907 some of her remains were moved to the Church of the Immaculate Conception, which she built, and some were left in her original resting place. She was canonized on October 15, 2006, by Pope Benedict XVI and given the official name of Saint Theodora Guérin.

Prayer

Saint Mother Theodore Guerin,
valiant woman of God,
intercede for us in our needs.
Implore for us through Jesus, the Christ,
the gifts of a living faith,
abiding hope
and steadfast charity,
so that
through a life of prayer
and service with others
we may aid in promoting
the Providence of God
among all peoples.
Saint Mother Theodore Guerin, pray for us.
Amen.