Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods
The Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods are an apostolic congregation of Catholic women founded by Saint Theodora Guerin at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, in 1840. Mother Theodore and her five companion sisters departed from the Sisters of Providence of Ruillé-sur-Loir, France, at the invitation of the Bishop of Vincennes, Indiana, to found the Sisters of Providence in the United States. In 1843, the Indiana congregation became independent of the religious institute in Ruillé, and the Rules of the Congregation were approved by the Holy See in 1887.
Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods
Church of the Immaculate Conception (Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana)
Sr. Morris, keeper of bees, c. 1900
Ann Margaret O'Hara, a past General Superior of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. Since the 1970s, the Sisters have abandoned their religious habit for the pant suit.
Anne Thérèse Guérin, designated by the Vatican as Saint Theodora, was a French-American saint and the foundress of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, a congregation of Catholic sisters at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana. Pope John Paul II beatified Guérin on 25 October 1998, and Pope Benedict XVI canonized her a saint of the Catholic Church on 15 October 2006. Mother Guérin's feast day is 3 October, although some calendars list it in the Roman Martyrology as 14 May, her day of death.
Théodore Guérin
Théodore Guérin
One final resting place of Mother Theodore in the Sisters of Providence Convent Cemetery.