St. Theodore Guerin (1798-1856)

Born Anne-Thérèse Guérin in France, she joined the Sisters of Providence in 1823. For nearly seventeen years she taught in French schools until she responded to a request for sisters from the Bishop of Vincennes, Indiana. In 1841, she and her sisters established St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, the first Catholic liberal arts college for women in the United States. Mother Théodore, from the time of her arrival at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods in 1840 to January 1849, established parish schools at Jasper, St. Peter’s, Vincennes, Madison, Fort Wayne and Terre Haute, all in Indiana, and at St. Francisville in Illinois. In 1853, she opened establishments in Evansville, Indiana and North Madison, Indiana; in 1854, at Lanesville, Indiana; and in 1855 at Columbus, Indiana, south of Indianapolis. Additionally, she established two orphanages in Vincennes. Also, by the time of Mother Théodore’s death in 1856, the Sisters of Providence congregation had grown from six sisters and four postulants to 67 professed members, nine novices and seven postulants. She was canonized in 2006.

(Adapted from Wikipedia)