The tapestry depicting Mother Theodore Guerin hangs from the main facade of St. Peter's Basilica during an open-air mass in St. Peter's square at the Vatican Sunday October 15, 2006.
Pope Benedict XVI celebrated the mass during the 2006 canonization ceremony of Mother Theodore Guerin, a French-born nun who struggled in the 19th century in the American frontier land.
St. Theodore was born on Oct. 2, 1798 in Etables, France. She entered the Sisters of Providence of Ruillé sur-Loir in 1823. She spent 17 years in France educating children and caring for the sick poor.
According to the Saint Mother Theodore Guerin Shrine website, in July 1840 she traveled to the United States to establish a motherhouse, to educate children of pioneer families and to once again take care of the sick poor.
While in the U.S. she established a school now known as Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana. In March 1842, she opened another school in Jasper, Indiana. In the years that followed, Mother Theodore established schools throughout Indiana and Eastern Illinois, two orphanages in Vincennes and free pharmacies at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods and in Vincennes.
She died in 1856.