Ciboria from Mother Theodore’s time

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 in the log cabin chapel that greeted Saint Mother Theodore Guerin and her companions on Oct. 22, 1840, or in the first Providence Convent chapel.

This is what Mother Theodore later wrote upon seeing the log cabin chapel: “The Church!! Yes, dear friends, that is the dwelling of the God of the Universe, in comparison with which the stables wherein you shelter your cattle are palaces. … No tabernacle, no altar, for can the name of altar be given to three planks forming a table forty inches long, supported by two stakes driven into the ground?”

It gives one pause to think of the many times Mother Theodore received Holy Communion from these receptacles and how the Blessed Sacrament sustained her not only spiritually, but physically and emotionally as well. These ciboria are truly sacred treasures of the Congregation.

Photos of the ciboria and covers