Saint Theodora Guérin

Anne-Thérèse Guérin was born in Étables, Brittany, France, on October 2, 1798. After her father's death she cared for her mother and sister, and in 1823 she entered the Sisters of Providence of Ruillé-sur-Loir, taking the name Sister Saint Theodore. She became a gifted teacher.

In 1840 she and five companions were sent to the Diocese of Vincennes in Indiana. They arrived on October 22, 1840, at a log cabin in the forest at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. Despite poverty, fire, illness and serious conflicts with the local bishop, Mother Theodore founded the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, opened an academy for girls in 1841 and started schools and orphanages across Indiana and Illinois. She died on May 14, 1856. Pope Benedict XVI canonized her on October 15, 2006, Indiana's first saint.

The Sisters of Providence welcome pilgrims to her shrine at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, near Terre Haute, Indiana, where her remains rest in the Church of the Immaculate Conception.

Catholic schools in Indiana and beyond honor her as a model teacher, and her feast falls on October 3 in the calendar of the United States.