Theodore Guerin

Saint Mother Theodore Guerin was the foundress of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind.

Born Anne-Thérèse Guérin on Oct. 2, 1798, she joined the Sisters of Providence at Ruillé-sur-Loir, France in 1823 and took the name Sister St. Theodore. After several years teaching and tending to the sick poor in France, she was sent to the United States of America to begin a new congregation of sisters in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana.

Mother Theodore went on to establish numerous schools, orphanages and pharmacies in Indiana and Illinois. She died on May 14, 1856 and is buried at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods.

She was beatified on Oct. 25, 1998, by Pope John Paul II and canonized as Saint Theodora on Oct. 15, 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI. Her feast day in the Roman Catholic Church is October 3.