Sisters of Providence receive icon of foundress as gift from St. Theodore Guerin High School in Noblesville

Paul Lundsford, president of St. Theodore Guerin High School in Noblesville, Ind., enjoying an intense, private time of prayer when he felt a call to have a religious icon created to honor the school’s namesake, Saint Mother Theodore Guerin, foundress of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods.

He walked into the office of Father Dale Ehrman, Vicar for Catholic Mission, who was having a conversation with Jan Storms, an artist from Minneapolis. She was discerning whether she should become a full-time iconographer.

Lundsford apologized for interrupting the conversation and asked Father Ehrman if the school could commission and icon. “An icon of who,” Father Ehrman asked. “Of Mother Theodore, of course,” Lundsford responded.

“Father Dale started laughing. Jan started crying,” Lundsford said Monday (Feb. 14), the day the icon was presented to the Congregation during Eucharistic Liturgy in St. Joseph Chapel. Father Ehrman offered the official blessing for the icon.

Sister Denise Wilkinson, general superior of the Sisters of Providence, gave the official welcome and expressed the Congregation’s gratitude for the gift of the icon. “We know that Mother Theodore has a special presence for the students, faculty and staff at the school. We are touched by their generosity.”

In speaking at the end of the Liturgy, Lundsford talked about the “powerful presence” Mother Theodore has in the school’s hallways. “We thank you for giving her to us,” he said.

Several representatives of St. Theodore Guerin High School and from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College also attended the Liturgy and blessing.