Anne-Thérèse Guérin
(In religion, Mother Theodore)
Born at Etables (Côte
du Nord), Brittany, France, 2 October, 1798; died 14
May, 1856. She entered the Community of Sisters of Providence,
Ruillé-sur-Loire, in 1823, received the religious
habit and, by dispensation, made profession of vows,
8 September, 1824, being appointed the same day to the
superiorship of the convent at Rennes. She was transferred
to Soulaines in 1833, chosen foundress of St. Mary-of-the-Woods,
Diocese of Vincennes, Indiana, in 1840, and at the same
time declared superior general of the Sisters of Providence
in America. The "Life and Life-Work" (1904)
of [Bl.] Mother Theodore Guérin reveals her to
have been, in the words of [James] Cardinal Gibbons,
who furnishes the introduction:
A woman of uncommon valour, one of those
religious athletes whose life and teachings effect a
spiritual fecundity that secures vast conquests to Christ
and His holy Church. . . . Not the least glory encircling
the diocese was its possessing such a magnanimous pioneer
Religious. . . . She was distinctively a diplomat in
religious organizations and eminently a teacher.
Father Charles Coppens, S.J., adds:
She was a very superior woman both in
natural gifts and in supernatural virtues. She lived
a life of extraordinary union with God and conformity
to His holy will, and she practised these virtues under
the most difficult circumstances, where they required
heroic faith, hope and charity. A perfect model of consummate
virtue for all classes of the faithful, but especially
for religious men and women.
[Bl.] Mother Theodore's mental attainments were of a
superior order. The French Academy recognized her scholarship
by according her medallion decorations. She was skilled
in medicine and was a thorough theologian. As foundress
of an institution whose expansion is evidence of her
energetic and penetrating spirit, her whole history
is a record of the power of holy souls who live but
for the glory of God and the salvation of mankind.
[Note: Anne-Thérèse (Mother
Theodore) Guérin was canonized Rome by Pope
Benedict XVI on 15 October, 2006.]
