History Timeline 1840-1926
Explore the early years of the Sisters of Providence and their ministries.
Anne-Thérèse Guerin is born on October 2, 1798, in Etables, France. She lives with her parents, Laurent and Isabelle, and her siblings Jean, Marie Jeanne and Laurent. Many sad things happen in her early life. Her father, a captain in the French navy, is murdered. Both of her brothers die in fires. Anne-Thérèse takes care of her grieving mother and sister. When things settle down, she follows her dream of becoming a sister. She joins the Sisters of Providence at Ruillé-sur-Loir in 1823 and becomes Sister St. Theodore. Because she is a very good teacher and leader, she is chosen to lead a group of sisters to Indiana.
Mother Theodore and her five companions arrive at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods
Administration of Mother Theodore Guerin
The Academy opens on July 4, 1841. The sisters welcome eleven girls the first term. It costs four dollars per quarter to attend and live at the school. In 1846 the Academy is incorporated as the first Catholic school in Indiana to teach women at a higher level. The school later splits into two parts: a high school and a college. Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College earns official accreditation in 1916.
Academy welcomes first pupil and holds first commencement
First external school established in Jasper, Indiana
Mother Theodore arranges a celebration of Forty Hours. It is the first recorded in the United States.
Mother Theodore and Sister Mary Cecilia Bailly travel to France to solicit aid.
Academy incorporated. It is the first Catholic institution of higher education for women in Indiana.
Congregation receives official deeds to the grounds.
When Mother Theodore and her companions arrive in 1840, they are warmly welcomed into the Thralls family farmhouse. The sisters soon plant gardens and tend to livestock. Over the years they also harvest honey and build a dairy barn. In 1921, workers combine seven ravines in the north woods to create beautiful Saint Joseph’s Lake.
Railroad cars pass through Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, connecting Saint Mary’s to other towns. Mail now delivered daily to the convent.
Dogma of the Immaculate Conception proclaimed.
In 1842 the sisters open their first mission away from St. Mary’s. It is a school in Jasper, Indiana. Many other schools are opened in the Midwest. Sisters are teaching at schools as far away as Massachusetts in 1889. The next year, they set up a program so sisters can learn how to be good teachers. In 1926, Sister Mary Joseph Pomeroy is the first Sister of Providence to earn a Ph.D.
Death of Mother Theodore Guerin
Administration of Mother Mary Cecilia Bailly
War between the States begins
The first shots of the Civil War are fired at Fort Sumter in April 1861. Indiana’s Governor Morton soon asks the sisters for help. In May, they take charge of City Hospital in Indianapolis to take care of soldiers and do chores like washing, cooking and cleaning. Other sisters minister at a hospital in Vincennes. Today a special memorial in Washington, DC called “The Nuns of the Battlefield” honors the Sisters of Providence and other sisters who helped during the war.
Sisters of Providence now number 100 members.
President Abraham Lincoln assassinated on Good Friday. General Robert E. Lee officially surrendered on April 9, 1865 and the civil war was officially declared over in August 1866.
Administration of Mother Anastasie Brown
Panic of 1873 causes financial hardships
Administration of Mother Mary Ephrem Glenn
Soon after arriving, Mother Theodore starts a free school for children from St. Mary’s Village. Over the years, the sisters find many ways to care for people who are poor. They open St. Ann’s Orphanage in Terre Haute in 1876. Sisters teach religion to African-American children and teach Irish girls who work in cotton mills. They also staff the Holy Childhood Home orphanage in China in 1930.
Telephone installed at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods in the business office
Administration of Mother Euphrasie Hinkle
Cornerstone laid for building a new church
First mission on east coast opens in Massachusetts
Providence Convent, planned and built by Mother Theodore in 1853, burns to the ground
The sisters build many buildings at St. Mary’s for themselves and for the school. Unfortunately, there are also many fires. When buildings burn down, the sisters build new ones. They construct Providence Convent in 1890 to replace the previous convent that burned. It is the first building in the county to have electric lights. The whole city comes out to see the lights turn on the first time. In 1907, the bishop consecrates the beautiful Church of the Immaculate Conception.
Administration of Mother Mary Cleophas Foley
Providence Convent rebuilt. Electric lights introduced with the “Grand Illumination of Providence”
Coal discovered on the grounds while boring for oil or gas
Sisters of Providence exhibit at Chicago World’s Fair, highlighting Catholic education offerings
Jubilee Year proclaimed by Pope Leo XIII
First airplane flight by Wright Brothers opens a new era
Consecration of the Church of the Immaculate Conception
Cure of cancer of Sister Mary Theodosia Mug after she prays at tomb of Mother Theodore for the health of another sister
Many people love Mother Theodore and think she is very holy, both before and after her death. While she is living, other sisters see bright rays of light coming from her room. After she dies, sisters keep relics of her and pray for her intercession. Sister Mary Theodosia Mug is cured of cancer in October 1908. In 1909, the bishop of Indianapolis decides to start the process of seeing if Mother Theodore can become a saint.
Formal cause for Mother Theodore’s canonization opened by Bishop Francis Silas Chatard in the Diocese of Indianapolis
An automobile replaces the horse-drawn carriage at Saint Mary’s
World War I begins
End of World War I and a promise to build a shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes in thanksgiving
Just like Mother Theodore did, the sisters show God their love all the time. They build many special shrines and chapels at St. Mary-of-the-Woods. These shrines celebrate Jesus, Mary, and some of the sisters’ favorite saints. Beginning in 1876, many people come to the Woods every year to watch hundreds of sisters make a procession to St. Ann’s Shell Chapel.
Mission to China begins in response to the request of Bishop Joseph Taconi for sisters to establish schools for Chinese women
Lourdes Infirmary, an up-to-date facility, replaces the previous one
Consecration of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel
National Shrine of Our Lady of Providence established at Saint Mary’s