To Mother Theodore and Companions

Fragile forerunners of ourselves, we thank you for your coming,
Bearing sainted heroes’ names across the seas.
You are a litany chanted down the years:
Theodore, St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Ligouri,
Olympiade, with St. Francis Xavier scurrying after you
Another year.

You look on us amazed, as women will
At daughters growing generations
After them.
We are all this century knows
Of any value in your venturing
Into a wilderness where Christ was waiting for you,
Waiting in the poor, the frightened, the wealthy.
The self-assured, the hungry, the homeless,
The peaceful and the violent.

We, like you, were led into this special wilderness
That is, for us all, Providence.
From you, from us, a future grows taller than the trees.
We thank you for your coming.

Excerpts from a poem by Sister Thomas Jeanne Doriot, SP.