October 22: "Established on the Cross"

Welcome to the American Catholic Daily Reader Podcast. Today is October 22nd, and our story is Established on the Cross. Sister Theodore Guerin did not normally question her superior's orders, but in 1839, she was sorely tempted to do so.

Earlier that year, Vincenzo's bishop, Celestine Highlandiere, asked the French Sisters of Providence of Rouillet-sur-Loire to come to Indiana. The Order's superior agreed and entrusted the mission to Garin. But Garin didn't want the assignment. Frail, sickly, and unable to eat anything but soft foods, the 41-year-old sister thought she would make a very poor missionary.

Then, Gorenne remembered a line from her order's rule. Being obliged to work with zeal for the sanctification of souls, the sisters will be disposed to go to whatsoever part of the world obedience calls them. That stayed her doubts. In July 1840, Mother Gorenne and five other sisters left France for America. Within days, Gorenne discovered that her health would be the least of her difficulties.

During their Atlantic crossing, a thief with unusually low scruples stole nearly all the sister's money. They had barely enough to complete their journey, let alone start a school. And when they arrived in Indiana on October 22, 1840, they discovered that their home was in a densely wooded wilderness, not the diocesan sea as the bishop had promised. In the woods, they had one room and a corn loft to call their own.

After that discovery, the sisters endured a fire, a famine, and bitter cold, leading Garenne to write, If ever this poor little community becomes settled, it will be established on the cross, and that is what gives me confidence and makes me hope. Her hope was well placed. Within a year, the sisters opened St. Mary of the Woods College, America's oldest Catholic women's college. Within ten years, they opened nearly a dozen more schools. And by the time Goren died in 1856, the original community of six sisters numbered 67 professed members, nine novices, and seven postulants.

More than 5,000 women would eventually join the order, and in 2006, the church declared the frail sister who thought herself ill-equipped for missionary life to be the first woman to be ordained to be ordained to be ordained to be ordained. Saint Theodore Gorenne. Gorenne's life teaches that true mission is measured not by comfort or ease, but by perseverance, sacrifice, and fidelity to God's call. Identify one challenge or fear that has held you back. Take one step today toward trusting God in that situation.

Thank you for listening to the American Catholic Daily Reader podcast. Join us tomorrow, October 23rd, for another story of faith and courage in America.