Archives: a way to connect with people

Have you ever thought of Archives as being a ministry? Perhaps not, but according to Sister Marianne Mader, Archives researcher for the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind., it is. “[Archives] is a way of connecting with other people,” she notes in the summer 2012 issue of HOPE, now available online.

The Sisters of Providence are blessed with an awesome Archives. Truly, this department was created when the Congregation’s foundress, Saint Mother Theodore Guerin, put pen to paper and wrote her journals as well as thousands of letters to her sisters in France, sisters here in the United States and countless friends and donors.

This issue of HOPE is dedicated to the keeper of the stories — the many women who have dedicated their lives to preserving the history of the Sisters of Providence. In this issue you’ll learn about the ways in which Archives collaborates with various entities across the state of Indiana. You’ll also learn about the work Sister Maureen Abbott is doing in writing the fourth volume of the Congregation’s history. Additionally, you’ll learn a little more about the story behind the “CNN Presents” program on the canonization of Saint Mother Theodore Guerin.

As always, you’ll find the usual articles — her-story, photo albums, newsnotes, alumnae/i news, obituaries and upcoming events. Check it out now!

Celebrating a saint among us

It’s October and for the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind., it’s a very, very special month. Saint Mother Theodore Guerin was born Oct. 2, 1798, in Etables-sur-Mer in Brittany, France. As a saint of the Roman Catholic Church, her feast day is celebrated Oct. 3. She was canonized Oct. 15, 2006, by Pope Benedict XVI at a ceremony in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican in Rome. And lastly, Saint Mother Theodore and her companion-sisters first stepped foot on the sacred ground of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods on Oct. 22, 1840.

Indeed, there is much to celebrate this month!

In the Sisters of Providence collection, there is plenty of material that relates to this Indiana saint. In this collection, you can find many artifacts, like the watch above, that belonged to Saint Mother Theodore. Her artifacts include everyday items like sewing kits, sabots (gardening shoes) and wallets to the sacred — her rosary and chaplet.

Learn more about the saint in our midst.

Are you sure this is the right location?

“What was our astonishment to find ourselves still in the midst of the forest, no village, not even a house in sight. Our guide having given orders to the driver, led us down into a ravine, whence we beheld through the trees on the other side a frame house with a stable and some sheds. ‘There,’ he said, ‘is the house where the postulants have a room, and where you will lodge until your house is ready.’”

Saint Mother Theodore Guerin, foundress of the Sisters of Providence, wrote these words in her journal about the evening she and her five sister-companions first stepped foot on Saint Mary-of-the-Woods soil on Oct. 22, 1840. Today, the Sisters of Providence celebrate Oct. 22 as Foundation Day.

To view sketches of some of the early buildings erected on the motherhouse grounds, click here. To learn more about Indiana’s first saint, visit here.

Celebrating a saint!

October is a very special month for the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind. The celebrating starts on Oct. 2, the birthday of this saint. She entered this world in 1798 in the village of Etables-sur-Mer in Brittany, France. Her parents gave her the name Anne-Thérèse.

On Oct. 15, 2006, during a ceremony in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI canonized her as a saint of the Catholic Church. Her Feast Day is celebrated Oct. 3.

Another special day is Oct. 22, Foundation Day. On this date in 1840, Mother Theodore and her five sister-companions came to the Woods. Every Sister of Providence knows the famous words spoken by Father Buteux on this historic evening: “Come down, Sisters, we have arrived.”

In the sisters’ collection on WV3, you can view some of the artifacts that belonged to Mother Theodore. You can also view her journals that were penned by her own hand. The earliest journals are written in French.

To visit the collection of the Sisters of Providence, click here. To learn more about Saint Mother Theodore Guerin, visit here.