Search Results for label/archives
Getting too many results? To search for an exact phrase, try putting multiple word phrases in quotation marks (such as "Saint Mother Theodore") to narrow your results.
Sisters of Providence celebrate Senior Jubilees
...Sorrows, Chicago (1958-59), Teacher, St. Therese, Wilson, N.C. (1959-62), Teacher, Maternity BVM, Chicago (1962-63), Teacher, Cheverus, Malden, Mass. (1962-66), Teacher, St. Patrick, Fayetteville, N.C. (1966-68), Teacher, Our Lady of Providence High School, Clarksville (1968-70), Teacher, St. Rose High School, Chelsea, Mass. (1970-87), Teacher, Coyle and Cassidy, Taunton, Mass. (1987-88), Teacher, Our Lady of Nazareth Academy, Wakefield, Mass. (1988-94), Archives Assistant, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods (1995-2016), and Volunteer, Providence Spirituality & Conference Center, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods (2016-21). Sister Patricia Geis is a native of...
Angels of mercy: Civil War service of the sisters
This photograph from Archives shows City Hospital in Indianapolis, which was known as Military Hospital during the Civil War. Reprinted from the fall 2011 issue of HOPE. “Cloistered by the majestic forest, the Convent and the Academy at St. Mary-of-the-Woods in 1860 would seem to have been too remote, too securely enclosed, to hear the rumblings of the approaching national disturbance. Echoes of trouble, however, reached even to this secluded spot,” wrote Sister Mary Theodosia Mug in her 1931 monograph...
Sisters’ habits
...sides. The veil covers the tips and fastens beneath them on the serre-tête eyelet.” These were just two sentences of instructions. There was an entire page and three diagrams devoted to this modification! A veil, which came to be identified with the habit, was in use by women long before there were Roman Catholic women’s religious congregations. According to documents in the Sisters of Providence Archives, the veil can be traced back to Mesopotamia. Early Church Fathers wrote about the...
The bells of Saint Mary’s
Workmen pose with the bells at the McShane Bell Foundry Company in Baltimore, Md. The bells were placed in the tower of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in 1910. (Photo courtesy of Sisters of Providence Archives) Today, with so many electronic gadgets to keep us plugged into the world around us and calendared to the last second, it’s impossible to imagine, or even remember, a day when bells once told us the time of day. At one time, bells...
Golden jubilees celebrated throughout SP history
...would be going down the aisle of the auditorium,” Sister Mary Lee said. The SP orchestra was a regular presence at the golden jubilee evening celebrations of old. Here Sister Carole Ann Bellucci, front, helps to make up the trumpet section. Evening entertainment From 1932 — the first year such records were retained in the SP archives — to 1966, the golden jubilee celebration included a special evening program honoring the celebrants. Sister Beatrice Hoberg recalls that the evening programs...
Vision of Mother Theodore
Mother Superior Gertrude Clare Owens While searching for some information in the files of Mother Superior Gertrude Clare Owens, Archives volunteer Sister Marie Grace Molloy found this very interesting statement concerning a vision of Mother Theodore that Mrs. Michael Owens had in 1910. It was signed by a notary public on Dec. 10, 1957. Mother Superior Sister Gertrude Clare was born March 26, 1887. She entered the Congregation Sept. 7, 1904, and served as general superior from 1954 to 1960....
A faceless ghost?
View of the north portion of Foley Hall begun in 1860. The art department was housed here on the third floor. (Photo courtesy of Sisters of Providence Archives) Editor’s note: This article was written in 1974 by Dawn Tomaszewski, a senior at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, for the college news magazine, The Woods. Today, Sister Dawn Tomaszewski ministers as the general superior of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. Foley Hall was built to house Saint Mary’s Institute, which became...
Ciboria from Mother Theodore’s time
This red velvet ciborium was used in the log cabin chapel that greeted Saint Mother Theodore Guerin upon her arrival at the Woods on Oct. 22, 1840. See photos below Deep in the stacks of the Sisters of Providence Archives is a wonderful treasure of ciboria used during the time of Saint Mother Theodore Guerin. A ciborium (singular form of ciboria) is a covered vessel for holding the consecrated hosts of Holy Communion. The ciboria featured below were used either...
Congregation centenary treasures
Blessed Mother statue One of the boxes in the Sisters of Providence Archives has treasures from the 100th anniversary of the Congregation in 1940. There are several novelty items that were given away as part of the celebration. One of the most unique is the “Saint Mary-of-the-Woods in a Nutshell.” One artifact was lovingly made by a sister. “The Path Marked Out: History of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Volume III” by Sister Mary Roger Madden gives a...
The Other Five: A brief look at the lives of the sisters who came from France in 1840 with Saint Mother Theodore Guerin
...them. Here, then, is a brief description of “The Other Five;” who they were and what they did as they helped create several chapters in Indiana history as recorded in the Sisters of Providence Archives and once published by Sister Joseph Eleanor Ryan. Sister St. Vincent Ferrer (Victoire Adelaide Gage): Born at LeMans, June 15, 1800, she was a daughter of Julien Gage, a municipal clerk, and Marie Ann Joseph Robert. She has been described as mature, modest, prudent and...
Election and inauguration reflections
President Barack Obama (Image is in the public domain.) After the 2008 election and the inauguration of President Barack Obama on Jan. 20, 2009, the Sisters of Providence were asked by the staff members of Archives to reflect on this event. The following are portions of their reflections. As you can see, the Sisters of Providence represent a cross section of the country. Click here for Sister Barbara Battista’s eyewitness account of the inauguration. Sister Judy Birgen This presidential election...
A zest for swimming
“The pool was magnificent,” said Sister John Mary Rifner. It was just one line in the “Important Events 1840 to 1972” in the card file in the Sisters of Providence Archives, but it caused a lot of stories to be told and memories to be relived. The line was “June 29, 1953: Permission to swim given to Sisters of Providence for the first time.” One of those sisters who shared her memories of that glorious decision was 80-year-old Sister John...