Théodore Guérin in the context of Religious sister (Catholic)

⭐ Core Definition: Théodore Guérin

Anne Thérèse Guérin SP (French pronunciation: [an teʁɛz ɡeʁɛ̃]; 2 October 1798 – 14 May 1856), 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.

Guérin immigrated to Indiana from France in 1840, and became known for her advancement of education, especially in Indiana and in eastern Illinois; founding numerous schools including Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana; and for her care of the orphaned, the sick, and the poor of the Diocese of Vincennes, Indiana.

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👉 Théodore Guérin in the context of Religious sister (Catholic)

A religious sister (abbreviated: Sr.) in Christianity is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious order dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to prayer and labor, or a canoness regular, who provides a service to the world, either teaching or nursing, within the confines of the monastery. Nuns, religious sisters and canonesses all use the term "Sister" as a form of address. Religious sisters are found in various traditions of Christianity, particularly Catholicism, Evangelical Lutheranism and Anglicanism.

In the Catholic Church, religious sisters are associated with a religious institute. The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism (1995) defines "congregations of sisters [as] institutes of women who profess the simple vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, live a common life, and are engaged in ministering to the needs of society." As William Saunders writes: "When bound by simple vows, a woman is a sister, not a nun, and thereby called 'sister'. Nuns recite the Liturgy of the Hours or Divine Office in common [...] [and] live a contemplative, cloistered life in a monastery [...] behind the 'papal enclosure'. Nuns are permitted to leave the cloister only under special circumstances and with the proper permission."

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