BY JULIE IRWIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Mother Guerin
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Mother Theodore Guerin, who led a band of religious women into the 19th-century Indiana wilderness to open schools and orphanages, will receive the title "Blessed" Sunday at a beatification ceremony led by Pope John Paul II.
A handful of Tristate residents are in Rome to join nearly 1,000 pilgrims celebrating the beatification, the last step before sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church. Mother Guerin is only the sixth American to be beatified.
Mother Guerin founded the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind., in 1840 and died there in 1856. Efforts to make her a saint began in 1907 when her remains were moved and a portion of her brain tissue was discovered to be pink and healthy.
The 1908 healing of Sister of Providence Mary Theodosia Mug, from cancer and neuritis, was deemed a miracle by medical consultants affiliated with the Vatican. Beatification requires proof of one miracle, and a second is required for canonization.
"She was a woman of Providence, and that spirituality calls forth a people of hope, people aware that God loves them despite the pain and sorrow that some people feel," said Sister Mary Catherine Hunt of Melbourne, Ky., who is in Rome for the beatification. "This is a woman who lived that spirituality. Given our times, it is an appropriate spirituality because it's embedded in trust and hope."
Anne-Therese Guerin was born in the French village of Etables in 1798 and became a Sister of Providence at the age of 24. Sister St. Theodore, as she was known then, was asked to lead a group of nuns to the United States to establish a motherhouse, a novitiate and schools.
She and five others left France in 1840, headed for the Diocese of Vincennes in Indiana. They opened their first school the following year.
"In those days people weren't used to having sisters around and it wasn't a very Catholic area, but she was able to win over the hearts of everyone she met," said Sister Diane Ris, general superior of the Indiana-based order. "She had utter trust in God and she knew God would take care of the order, no matter what hardships she endured."
The order established 12 schools, two orphanages and pharmacies and built a motherhouse by 1856. Today the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods include about 650 women working in 25 states, Taiwan, China and the West Indies. They run three sponsored institutions, including Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana.
The process of beatification and canonization involved a rigorous study of Mother Guerin's life, work and writings. Sister Ris said other potential miracles are being examined.
Beth Connelly learned of Mother Guerin as a student at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College and kept up with the school and its happenings as an alumna living in Indian Hill. The connection was strong enough to persuade Mrs. Connelly to head to Rome for Sunday's beatification.
"It's a wonderful event and probably a unique situation. I don't have even a remote connection to anyone else being beatified," Mrs. Connelly said. "She must have been a strong, wonderful person."
