The weather outside is frightful

Navigating the ice and snow has been difficult lately.

It is January and getting to work some days in many states can be challenging because of the ice and snow. That reminds me of a Sisters of Providence story many do not know.

I don’t recall the source of this story I read in our archives, but believe me, it is too wild for me to have imagined it.

On Jan. 13, 1847, Mother Theodore received a letter that Sister Mary Ligouri Tiercin had left Madison, Indiana, two weeks prior to come to St. Mary’s because she was critically ill.

The next day, Jan 14, 1847, she was resting in the motherhouse infirmary, but it had been a challenge like no other to get her from Terre Haute to the motherhouse.

A day when the road was so covered with ice, the horse and carriage tried three times to make it into Terre Haute. Three times it was unsuccessful. So how did Sister Mary Ligouri get to the motherhouse?

Four men picked her up, put her in a chair and carried her on foot to the motherhouse!

I sure would like to know the names of those four brave men and wouldn’t you love to hear them tell this story to their families?

On Jan. 29, 1847, Sister Mary Ligouri was the first of our founding sisters to die.