Connie McCammon

After receiving the Blessed Sacrament upon her arrival at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Mother Theodore Guerin examined the church a little more closely. This is what she writes about it: “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…

Once Mother Theodore Guerin and her sister-companions were safely on land at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind., the sisters wanted to visit the Blessed Sacrament. The following is what Mother Theodore writes about this experience: “We had agreed among ourselves that our first visit would be made to the Blessed Sacrament, and that we would not speak to anyone…

Arriving in Terre Haute, Ind., the afternoon of Oct. 21, 1840, Mother Theodore Guerin and her sister-companions spent the night in the city. She writes about Terre Haute: “Like all American cities it [Terre Haute] is laid out on a large scale; in some places the houses are a gunshot from each other. We passed the…

Traveling by stagecoach from Vincennes to Terre Haute, Ind., was another arduous and dangerous leg of Mother Theodore Guerin’s journey to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind. Rain made matters even worse. When the stagecoach overturned and the driver was unable to upright the vehicle, assistance was sought from a man who lived in nearby cabin. Mother Theodore and…

Mother Theodore Guerin and her sister-companions stayed with the Sisters of Charity while in Vincennes, Ind. She writes about Vincennes: “At Vincennes, especially, one might think she was in Noah’s ark. The confused noise is deafening. The two pianos that the Sisters [of Charity] have for twelve pupils, and which are going from the beginning of…

Mother Theodore Guerin and her sister-companions traveled by stagecoach from Evansville to Vincennes, Ind. She writes about this uncomfortable trip: “ … we entered a thick forest where we saw the most singular kind of road that could be imagined. It was formed of logs, of trees that had been felled to clear the way and…

In Cincinnati, Mother Theodore Guerin and her companion-sisters found a blood-thirsty mob. She humorously writes: “We were far from supposing that, in the midst of the city where we had been so well received, we were to find a multitude of enemies athirst for the blood of the French. Until then we had not fought unto the…