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“Be cheerful, kind to one another” Mother Theodore’s response to epidemic
The original 1850 letter in Mother Theodore’s own handwriting in which she advises the sisters during an epidemic On March 2, 1849, Mother Theodore Guerin wrote to the Sisters in Madison, Indiana: “Just this moment I hear that the cholera has made its entrance into your dear Madison. I cannot tell you how anxious I am about you.” Her anxiety was not without good cause. Before the advent of COVID-19, those of us who live in developed countries probably gave...
Journals and Letters week 47: Letting things take their course
[Today we are discussing “Journals and Letters” page 410 to page 416 mid-page. Join us in reading a portion of Saint Mother Theodore’s writings every week.] By now we have come to expect letters to Sister Basilide to be filled with Mother Theodore’s wise counsel and her customary frankness. She does not mince words. She reminds Basilide in these two letters that she has struggled with the question of returning to France for fifteen years, as long as they have been in...
Mother Theodore and the National Liturgical Calendar: We Need Your Input
This past fall, the Congregation was contacted by a reporter for Our Sunday Visitor and a devotee of Saint Mother Theodore. The reporter sought and received permission from Archbishop Charles Thompson of Indianapolis to work to have Mother Theodore’s Feast Day placed on the U.S. national liturgical calendar. For Saint Mother Theodore’s name and feast day to be placed on the national liturgical calendar, there needs to be proof that she has a cultus, a following. When someone is proclaimed...
Walking through Lent with Saint Mother Theodore Guerin
We welcome you to join us this Lent in spiritual reflections with Saint Mother Theodore Guerin. Check the blog each Sunday during Lent for short reflections created by Postulant Emily TeKolste for each day of the coming week. Below are reflections for the first week of Lent, starting with Ash Wednesday. We invite you to spend a few minutes each day reflecting on the scripture verses and the words of Saint Mother Theodore Guerin. May your Lent be a time...
Journals and Letters week 45: Sorrows and shadows
...but I believe I shall rest only in heaven.” “When Sister Theodore has been well for one day, she spends three day repenting of her good behavior.” “ … my health is still very miserable.” In one of this week’s letters, Mother Theodore asks for a momento of Bishop Bovier’s. This piece, located today in the Sisters of Providence archives, was sent to her. The cross was made from the bishop’s hair. Immediately following Mother Theodore’s letter of March 22,...
Letter: Jan. 13 1849
...wilderness together, they became very close. After their arrival to the Woods, Sister Basilide was sent to a mission in Vincennes, Ind., which meant putting distance between herself and Mother Theodore. Mother Theodore and Sister Basilide often wrote back and forth to each other, and sent gifts. This letter was a response to some gifts that Sister Basilide sent Mother Theodore. In her return letter, Mother Theodore expressed her fear of “losing” Sister Basilide to distance. However, her confidence was...
Breaking boundaries, creating miracles
...an education. Saint Mother Theodore Guerin As a woman and a business leader, Mother Theodore faced an unjust system. Women of her time did not usually conduct business. That did not keep Mother Theodore from administering in a way that provided freedom and independence for her Congregation. “… they wish to make us pay taxes, which is contrary to the laws of the State. We refuse positively. It embarrasses them a little to have women resist them and speak to...
Holy Week reflections with Saint Mother Theodore
We hope your time walking through Lent with Saint Mother Theodore Guerin has been beneficial. The week’s reflections below conclude this Lenten journey. May your Holy Week be blessed! Palm Sunday, April 9 “The disciples went as Jesus had ordered them.” – Matthew 21:6 “Let us adore the designs of this good Master and be resigned to His Holy Will.” – Saint Mother Theodore Guerin Jesus seemed to be asking the disciples to do something absurd. They were to go...
Reminders of the beauty of God
I’ve heard Saint Mother Theodore Guerin referred to as the “green saint.” The excerpt below helped to bring Mother Theodore’s connection to nature to life for me. The memory is from Mother Anastasie Brown (1826-1918). She began her life as a pioneer child in the Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, vicinity. She studied at the Academy at Saint Mary -of-the-Woods starting in 1841, at its beginnings. She then entered the Sisters of Providence in 1844 and spent the first many years of...
Journals and Letters week 40: All will be well
...a very young sister thinking that I should spend more time in the convent chapel. Mother Theodore set me straight, as she did Mary Xavier. Obedience to one’s ministry carries more merit than one’s choosing to spend “all the day long on our knees before the Blessed Sacrament.” Mother Theodore shows us proper balance. The same letter verified for me Mother Theodore’s choice of motto for the Academy: Virtue with knowledge. She tells Sister Mary Xavier, “Remember that you have...
Journals and Letters week 46: God’s flowers
[Today we are discussing “Journals and Letters” pages 402, bottom, to 409 starting with “Letter Circular.” Join us in reading a portion of Saint Mother Theodore’s writings every week.] “Our Lord has again plucked a flower from his garden at St. Mary’s.” Our reading begins with Mother Theodore informing the community, via a Letter Circular, that Sister Josephine (Hannah Monaghan) has died. The original recipients of this news, as well as all who have read it since, experience this poignant image of...
Donna Stites: wanting to be seen as somebody
...in order to find peace in her God and in herself. Born to Darrell and Jan Stites in Deanefield, Ky., Donna was the youngest of three children. Shortly after her birth her parents separated and she was left with a neighbor. From there she bounced around to various extended family members. She then lived a few years with her father and stepmother before moving in with her mother and stepfather at the age of 11. Moving in with her mother...