Published: October 15, 2006 12:57 pm      

New saint's niece among the inspired at vigil

ROME — Anne Guerin had a tear on her face, and a smile.

She shares the last name of Blessed Mother Theodore Guerin, who will be sainted by Pope Benedict XVI Sunday morning at St. Peter’s Square.

Anne, her daughter Martine Galant and son-in-law Serge Galant made the short drive from Nice, France, to Rome for this weekend’s canonization by Pope Benedict XVI. Her emotions were obvious, even through translations by friends and family from French to English.

“It’s a beautiful family,” she said, “and we’re the last of her’s.”

Anne’s late husband was Mother Guerin’s great-great-great-great nephew. And the woman who more than 150 years ago founded the Sisters of Providence at St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind., was a common household topic for her distant relatives.

“My wife’s grandmother always said she would be a saint,” Serge Galant said after a prayer vigil in Mother Guerin’s honor on Saturday in the Church of the Gesu at Rome.

On Sunday morning, that prediction will come true. Others at Saturday’s vigil felt a strong connection to Guerin, who lived from 1798 to 1856, including the last 16 years in Indiana, leading the Sisters of Providence and a fledgling school that became St. Mary-of-the-Woods College in a part of Indiana that included few Catholics. In addition to serving the poor and ill throughout western Indiana, she also persevered through poverty in a remote, pioneer area, as well as intolerance from those outside of her faith, explained readers during Saturday’s ceremony.

“She never complained,” said Sister Marie Claire, a member of the Sisters of Providence who lives in England. As she waited on the steps of the Church of the Gesu on Saturday, Claire handed out several “It’s-good-to-see-you-again” hugs to other Sisters of Providence from around the world, including Taiwan and France, where Guerin was born.

The vigil and Sunday’s canonization also drew students from the 3-year-old Guerin Catholic High School in Noblesville. Their group included Bishop William Higi of the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana. And besides the school’s namesake, the canonization of Mother Guerin could bring that school a needed connection.

“It’s very special for the state and the church,” Higi said, as the students offered fund-raiser T-shirts for 10 Euros each outside the church. “And I commissioned a high school to be built in honor of Mother Theodore, and I’m praying for her to provide enough money to pay for it,” he added, chuckling.

Those who experienced inspiration from Guerin as St. Mary-of-the-Woods College students, included those past and present.

Mary Barrett, a 1965 graduate, is now chair of the college’s board of directors and traveled from Chicago to Rome to see Guerin become a saint. She said this historic moment, when Guerin becomes one of just eight saints from the United States, is important for Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

“It’s an event that the whole community can share in,” Barrett said as the crowd outside the Church of the Gesu doors grew. For Kathy Lubenznick, a 1980 Woods grad from Michigan City, the chance to see the events in Rome “is just the culmination of all my Catholic years.” Lubenzick attended Catholic schools from kindergarten through college, and she now serves as vice chair of the Woods board.

The Woods alumnae and students, and the Sisters of Providence, wore distinctive items that helped them quickly recognize each other. That includes the dark rings accorded to Woods graduates. “You see that black onyx ring, and see them across the street and start waving,” Lubenzick said.

Two current Woods sophomores, Lauren Schueler and Samantha Dumm, hope to have those rings in a few years. In the meantime, they’re experiencing history in Rome.

“It’s something we’ll remember the rest of our lives,” Dumm said as they posed for pictures. “We’ll be able to tell our kids about that.”

They saw the massive, colorful banner depicting Guerin, hanging in St. Peter’s Square, along with those of three others due to be sainted.

“We were just walking around and didn’t realize it was up there, and saw it and said, ‘Oh my gosh,’” Dumm said.

“Rome in itself is amazing,” Scheuler said. “It’s an experience of a lifetime.”

Sister Marsha Speth, the college’s general counsel, says the canonization spreads the word of Guerin’s work beyond just Indiana and those connected to the Sisters of Providence and the college.

“This moment takes that life — the way that she lived, what we’ve known growing up and learning our whole lives — and it’s now being shared with the whole world,” Speth said.