A Road Trip with Saint Mother Theodore

My 16-year-old son and I took Saint Mother Theodore on the road over the July 4th holiday.

We drove 6.5 hours from Terre Haute, Indiana to Champion, Wisconsin, for the Catholic Saints of America event at the Shrine of Our Lady of Champion. (Which, I learned, is the only approved site of an apparition of the Blessed Mother Mary in the United States).

Banners, Brochures and More

Our car was loaded up with all things Mother Theodore – banners and a life-size cut out, brochures and prayer cards, table cloth and third-class relic cards. And our most precious cargo, a first- and second-class relic of Saint Mother Theodore.

This precious piece was created soon after Mother Theodore died in 1856. Her sisters had taken a small piece of her habit, a small piece of her veil and a lock of her hair and covered them in thin paper. Such a precious gift to be carrying a part of Mother Theodore with us on our trip.

It would be put on display with other first-class relics at the event. Taking good care of the irreplaceable relic was a focal part of the trip. “The relic” became the key phrase. “Have you checked the relic?” “Do we still have the relic?”

The morning after we arrived in Wisconsin, we set up our Saint Mother Theodore table at the event. We shared about Saint Mother Theodore and passed out brochures, stickers, prayer cards and more on July 4 and 5.

The event featured a hall that highlighted a timeline and how each of the 76 saints, blessed, venerables and servants of God (people on the path toward officially being declared saint; It’s a long and cumbersome process!) all with American ties.

In addition to the display telling a bit about each of the 76 were many tables where people representing various saints and those moving toward sainthood shared, just as we were doing with Saint Mother Theodore Guerin.

‘Why have I never heard of her?’

“Oh, she’s already a saint! Why have I never heard of her?” was a question I got many times. I was happy to share more about her. One lady bought a copy of Saint Mother Theodore’s Journals and Letters the first day we were there and came back the next to exclaim about how treacherous that horse and buggy ride across flooded land to her first arrival at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods was!

Another lady was delighted to find Saint Mother Theodore as her baby son along for the ride in his stroller was named Theodore. She took a wooden cutout to use as a Christmas ornament for him. Another young teen girl was so excited about the Saint Mother Theodore socks her mom won for signing up for emails. (I don’t think mom is going to get to wear those socks!) Several people hoped to visit Saint Mother Theodore’s Shrine at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods one day. One man said he will travel down the next time he goes to Fort Wayne to visit his brother.

It was a wonderful and memorable trip with Saint Mother Theodore. Sharing her with others was an honor. May even more people get to know and learn from this amazing woman who points us always toward God!