| Novena Starts: | September 24 |
| Feastday: | October 3 |
| Birth: | 1798 |
| Death: | 1856 |
Patron saint of teachers and students, Catholic schools and colleges, immigrants and pioneers, those in poor health, and all who are treated unjustly by those set over them
St. Mother Theodore Guerin Novena
St. Mother Theodore Guerin (1798-1856) was born in Brittany, lost her father to murderers as a girl, and carried lifelong ill health from an illness that nearly killed her as a novice. In 1840 she was sent with five sisters to the Indiana wilderness, where she found not a convent but a log cabin in the woods, and there she founded the Sisters of Providence and the oldest Catholic liberal arts college for women in the United States. Her bishop turned against her, released her from her vows and ordered her out of the diocese, and she was vindicated only when Rome accepted his resignation. Pray this novena for teachers and students, for immigrants far from home, for those treated unjustly by those over them, and for the favor you most need.
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Day 1
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
O God of Providence, who called your servant Saint Mother Theodore Guerin out of Brittany and sent her across the sea to a forest in Indiana with nothing but her trust in you, we praise you for the courage you gave her and the work you accomplished through her weakness.
Dear Mother Theodore, you were sickly all your life and could scarcely eat, and you did not let it excuse you from anything. You were set down in a wilderness where you had been promised a house and found only trees, and when your sisters wept you told them that Providence was enough. You opened schools where there was nothing, taught the children of the poor and the newly arrived, and bade your sisters love the children first and teach them afterward.
When your own bishop turned against you, stripped you of your office, released you from your vows and ordered you out of his diocese, you went without railing at him, and when you were vindicated you did not repay him. Obtain for us that same steadiness, that we may hold to what is right without bitterness, and forgive those who have used their authority against us.
Bless all teachers and all who work in Catholic schools, all students, and all who have left their own country to begin again among strangers. Comfort those whose health is poor and who feel themselves unequal to what is asked of them, and teach us to say with you, in every want and every fear, that we have nothing but Providence, and that Providence is enough.
And now, dear Saint Mother Theodore, we place in your hands the particular favor we ask through your intercession.
(mention request here…)
Obtain this for us, if it be according to the will of God and for the good of our souls, and obtain for us above all an unshaken confidence in the loving care of our Father.
Amen.
O God, who made Saint Mother Theodore Guerin a woman of faith and a mother to the poor and the young in a strange land, grant, through her intercession, that we may trust your Providence in every trial, labor cheerfully at the work you have given us, and bear injustice without losing charity. Through Christ our Lord.
Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be
St. Mother Theodore Guerin, pray for us!
Amen.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Answered Prayers from the Community
“I received tremendous peace throughout as well as new understandings. On the last day I received a beautiful gift I didn’t ask for, a beautiful memory of my son. I’m so grateful and extremely happy! Thank you St Michael!! Glory to you O sweet God!!”
Day 2
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
O God of Providence, who called your servant Saint Mother Theodore Guerin out of Brittany and sent her across the sea to a forest in Indiana with nothing but her trust in you, we praise you for the courage you gave her and the work you accomplished through her weakness.
Dear Mother Theodore, you were sickly all your life and could scarcely eat, and you did not let it excuse you from anything. You were set down in a wilderness where you had been promised a house and found only trees, and when your sisters wept you told them that Providence was enough. You opened schools where there was nothing, taught the children of the poor and the newly arrived, and bade your sisters love the children first and teach them afterward.
When your own bishop turned against you, stripped you of your office, released you from your vows and ordered you out of his diocese, you went without railing at him, and when you were vindicated you did not repay him. Obtain for us that same steadiness, that we may hold to what is right without bitterness, and forgive those who have used their authority against us.
Bless all teachers and all who work in Catholic schools, all students, and all who have left their own country to begin again among strangers. Comfort those whose health is poor and who feel themselves unequal to what is asked of them, and teach us to say with you, in every want and every fear, that we have nothing but Providence, and that Providence is enough.
And now, dear Saint Mother Theodore, we place in your hands the particular favor we ask through your intercession.
(mention request here…)
Obtain this for us, if it be according to the will of God and for the good of our souls, and obtain for us above all an unshaken confidence in the loving care of our Father.
Amen.
O God, who made Saint Mother Theodore Guerin a woman of faith and a mother to the poor and the young in a strange land, grant, through her intercession, that we may trust your Providence in every trial, labor cheerfully at the work you have given us, and bear injustice without losing charity. Through Christ our Lord.
Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be
St. Mother Theodore Guerin, pray for us!
Amen.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Answered Prayers from the Community
“I received tremendous peace throughout as well as new understandings. On the last day I received a beautiful gift I didn’t ask for, a beautiful memory of my son. I’m so grateful and extremely happy! Thank you St Michael!! Glory to you O sweet God!!”
Day 3
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
O God of Providence, who called your servant Saint Mother Theodore Guerin out of Brittany and sent her across the sea to a forest in Indiana with nothing but her trust in you, we praise you for the courage you gave her and the work you accomplished through her weakness.
Dear Mother Theodore, you were sickly all your life and could scarcely eat, and you did not let it excuse you from anything. You were set down in a wilderness where you had been promised a house and found only trees, and when your sisters wept you told them that Providence was enough. You opened schools where there was nothing, taught the children of the poor and the newly arrived, and bade your sisters love the children first and teach them afterward.
When your own bishop turned against you, stripped you of your office, released you from your vows and ordered you out of his diocese, you went without railing at him, and when you were vindicated you did not repay him. Obtain for us that same steadiness, that we may hold to what is right without bitterness, and forgive those who have used their authority against us.
Bless all teachers and all who work in Catholic schools, all students, and all who have left their own country to begin again among strangers. Comfort those whose health is poor and who feel themselves unequal to what is asked of them, and teach us to say with you, in every want and every fear, that we have nothing but Providence, and that Providence is enough.
And now, dear Saint Mother Theodore, we place in your hands the particular favor we ask through your intercession.
(mention request here…)
Obtain this for us, if it be according to the will of God and for the good of our souls, and obtain for us above all an unshaken confidence in the loving care of our Father.
Amen.
O God, who made Saint Mother Theodore Guerin a woman of faith and a mother to the poor and the young in a strange land, grant, through her intercession, that we may trust your Providence in every trial, labor cheerfully at the work you have given us, and bear injustice without losing charity. Through Christ our Lord.
Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be
St. Mother Theodore Guerin, pray for us!
Amen.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Answered Prayers from the Community
“I received tremendous peace throughout as well as new understandings. On the last day I received a beautiful gift I didn’t ask for, a beautiful memory of my son. I’m so grateful and extremely happy! Thank you St Michael!! Glory to you O sweet God!!”
Day 4
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
O God of Providence, who called your servant Saint Mother Theodore Guerin out of Brittany and sent her across the sea to a forest in Indiana with nothing but her trust in you, we praise you for the courage you gave her and the work you accomplished through her weakness.
Dear Mother Theodore, you were sickly all your life and could scarcely eat, and you did not let it excuse you from anything. You were set down in a wilderness where you had been promised a house and found only trees, and when your sisters wept you told them that Providence was enough. You opened schools where there was nothing, taught the children of the poor and the newly arrived, and bade your sisters love the children first and teach them afterward.
When your own bishop turned against you, stripped you of your office, released you from your vows and ordered you out of his diocese, you went without railing at him, and when you were vindicated you did not repay him. Obtain for us that same steadiness, that we may hold to what is right without bitterness, and forgive those who have used their authority against us.
Bless all teachers and all who work in Catholic schools, all students, and all who have left their own country to begin again among strangers. Comfort those whose health is poor and who feel themselves unequal to what is asked of them, and teach us to say with you, in every want and every fear, that we have nothing but Providence, and that Providence is enough.
And now, dear Saint Mother Theodore, we place in your hands the particular favor we ask through your intercession.
(mention request here…)
Obtain this for us, if it be according to the will of God and for the good of our souls, and obtain for us above all an unshaken confidence in the loving care of our Father.
Amen.
O God, who made Saint Mother Theodore Guerin a woman of faith and a mother to the poor and the young in a strange land, grant, through her intercession, that we may trust your Providence in every trial, labor cheerfully at the work you have given us, and bear injustice without losing charity. Through Christ our Lord.
Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be
St. Mother Theodore Guerin, pray for us!
Amen.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Answered Prayers from the Community
“I received tremendous peace throughout as well as new understandings. On the last day I received a beautiful gift I didn’t ask for, a beautiful memory of my son. I’m so grateful and extremely happy! Thank you St Michael!! Glory to you O sweet God!!”
Day 5
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
O God of Providence, who called your servant Saint Mother Theodore Guerin out of Brittany and sent her across the sea to a forest in Indiana with nothing but her trust in you, we praise you for the courage you gave her and the work you accomplished through her weakness.
Dear Mother Theodore, you were sickly all your life and could scarcely eat, and you did not let it excuse you from anything. You were set down in a wilderness where you had been promised a house and found only trees, and when your sisters wept you told them that Providence was enough. You opened schools where there was nothing, taught the children of the poor and the newly arrived, and bade your sisters love the children first and teach them afterward.
When your own bishop turned against you, stripped you of your office, released you from your vows and ordered you out of his diocese, you went without railing at him, and when you were vindicated you did not repay him. Obtain for us that same steadiness, that we may hold to what is right without bitterness, and forgive those who have used their authority against us.
Bless all teachers and all who work in Catholic schools, all students, and all who have left their own country to begin again among strangers. Comfort those whose health is poor and who feel themselves unequal to what is asked of them, and teach us to say with you, in every want and every fear, that we have nothing but Providence, and that Providence is enough.
And now, dear Saint Mother Theodore, we place in your hands the particular favor we ask through your intercession.
(mention request here…)
Obtain this for us, if it be according to the will of God and for the good of our souls, and obtain for us above all an unshaken confidence in the loving care of our Father.
Amen.
O God, who made Saint Mother Theodore Guerin a woman of faith and a mother to the poor and the young in a strange land, grant, through her intercession, that we may trust your Providence in every trial, labor cheerfully at the work you have given us, and bear injustice without losing charity. Through Christ our Lord.
Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be
St. Mother Theodore Guerin, pray for us!
Amen.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Answered Prayers from the Community
“I received tremendous peace throughout as well as new understandings. On the last day I received a beautiful gift I didn’t ask for, a beautiful memory of my son. I’m so grateful and extremely happy! Thank you St Michael!! Glory to you O sweet God!!”
Day 6
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
O God of Providence, who called your servant Saint Mother Theodore Guerin out of Brittany and sent her across the sea to a forest in Indiana with nothing but her trust in you, we praise you for the courage you gave her and the work you accomplished through her weakness.
Dear Mother Theodore, you were sickly all your life and could scarcely eat, and you did not let it excuse you from anything. You were set down in a wilderness where you had been promised a house and found only trees, and when your sisters wept you told them that Providence was enough. You opened schools where there was nothing, taught the children of the poor and the newly arrived, and bade your sisters love the children first and teach them afterward.
When your own bishop turned against you, stripped you of your office, released you from your vows and ordered you out of his diocese, you went without railing at him, and when you were vindicated you did not repay him. Obtain for us that same steadiness, that we may hold to what is right without bitterness, and forgive those who have used their authority against us.
Bless all teachers and all who work in Catholic schools, all students, and all who have left their own country to begin again among strangers. Comfort those whose health is poor and who feel themselves unequal to what is asked of them, and teach us to say with you, in every want and every fear, that we have nothing but Providence, and that Providence is enough.
And now, dear Saint Mother Theodore, we place in your hands the particular favor we ask through your intercession.
(mention request here…)
Obtain this for us, if it be according to the will of God and for the good of our souls, and obtain for us above all an unshaken confidence in the loving care of our Father.
Amen.
O God, who made Saint Mother Theodore Guerin a woman of faith and a mother to the poor and the young in a strange land, grant, through her intercession, that we may trust your Providence in every trial, labor cheerfully at the work you have given us, and bear injustice without losing charity. Through Christ our Lord.
Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be
St. Mother Theodore Guerin, pray for us!
Amen.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Answered Prayers from the Community
“I received tremendous peace throughout as well as new understandings. On the last day I received a beautiful gift I didn’t ask for, a beautiful memory of my son. I’m so grateful and extremely happy! Thank you St Michael!! Glory to you O sweet God!!”
Day 7
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
O God of Providence, who called your servant Saint Mother Theodore Guerin out of Brittany and sent her across the sea to a forest in Indiana with nothing but her trust in you, we praise you for the courage you gave her and the work you accomplished through her weakness.
Dear Mother Theodore, you were sickly all your life and could scarcely eat, and you did not let it excuse you from anything. You were set down in a wilderness where you had been promised a house and found only trees, and when your sisters wept you told them that Providence was enough. You opened schools where there was nothing, taught the children of the poor and the newly arrived, and bade your sisters love the children first and teach them afterward.
When your own bishop turned against you, stripped you of your office, released you from your vows and ordered you out of his diocese, you went without railing at him, and when you were vindicated you did not repay him. Obtain for us that same steadiness, that we may hold to what is right without bitterness, and forgive those who have used their authority against us.
Bless all teachers and all who work in Catholic schools, all students, and all who have left their own country to begin again among strangers. Comfort those whose health is poor and who feel themselves unequal to what is asked of them, and teach us to say with you, in every want and every fear, that we have nothing but Providence, and that Providence is enough.
And now, dear Saint Mother Theodore, we place in your hands the particular favor we ask through your intercession.
(mention request here…)
Obtain this for us, if it be according to the will of God and for the good of our souls, and obtain for us above all an unshaken confidence in the loving care of our Father.
Amen.
O God, who made Saint Mother Theodore Guerin a woman of faith and a mother to the poor and the young in a strange land, grant, through her intercession, that we may trust your Providence in every trial, labor cheerfully at the work you have given us, and bear injustice without losing charity. Through Christ our Lord.
Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be
St. Mother Theodore Guerin, pray for us!
Amen.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Answered Prayers from the Community
“I received tremendous peace throughout as well as new understandings. On the last day I received a beautiful gift I didn’t ask for, a beautiful memory of my son. I’m so grateful and extremely happy! Thank you St Michael!! Glory to you O sweet God!!”
Day 8
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
O God of Providence, who called your servant Saint Mother Theodore Guerin out of Brittany and sent her across the sea to a forest in Indiana with nothing but her trust in you, we praise you for the courage you gave her and the work you accomplished through her weakness.
Dear Mother Theodore, you were sickly all your life and could scarcely eat, and you did not let it excuse you from anything. You were set down in a wilderness where you had been promised a house and found only trees, and when your sisters wept you told them that Providence was enough. You opened schools where there was nothing, taught the children of the poor and the newly arrived, and bade your sisters love the children first and teach them afterward.
When your own bishop turned against you, stripped you of your office, released you from your vows and ordered you out of his diocese, you went without railing at him, and when you were vindicated you did not repay him. Obtain for us that same steadiness, that we may hold to what is right without bitterness, and forgive those who have used their authority against us.
Bless all teachers and all who work in Catholic schools, all students, and all who have left their own country to begin again among strangers. Comfort those whose health is poor and who feel themselves unequal to what is asked of them, and teach us to say with you, in every want and every fear, that we have nothing but Providence, and that Providence is enough.
And now, dear Saint Mother Theodore, we place in your hands the particular favor we ask through your intercession.
(mention request here…)
Obtain this for us, if it be according to the will of God and for the good of our souls, and obtain for us above all an unshaken confidence in the loving care of our Father.
Amen.
O God, who made Saint Mother Theodore Guerin a woman of faith and a mother to the poor and the young in a strange land, grant, through her intercession, that we may trust your Providence in every trial, labor cheerfully at the work you have given us, and bear injustice without losing charity. Through Christ our Lord.
Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be
St. Mother Theodore Guerin, pray for us!
Amen.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Answered Prayers from the Community
“I received tremendous peace throughout as well as new understandings. On the last day I received a beautiful gift I didn’t ask for, a beautiful memory of my son. I’m so grateful and extremely happy! Thank you St Michael!! Glory to you O sweet God!!”
Day 9
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
O God of Providence, who called your servant Saint Mother Theodore Guerin out of Brittany and sent her across the sea to a forest in Indiana with nothing but her trust in you, we praise you for the courage you gave her and the work you accomplished through her weakness.
Dear Mother Theodore, you were sickly all your life and could scarcely eat, and you did not let it excuse you from anything. You were set down in a wilderness where you had been promised a house and found only trees, and when your sisters wept you told them that Providence was enough. You opened schools where there was nothing, taught the children of the poor and the newly arrived, and bade your sisters love the children first and teach them afterward.
When your own bishop turned against you, stripped you of your office, released you from your vows and ordered you out of his diocese, you went without railing at him, and when you were vindicated you did not repay him. Obtain for us that same steadiness, that we may hold to what is right without bitterness, and forgive those who have used their authority against us.
Bless all teachers and all who work in Catholic schools, all students, and all who have left their own country to begin again among strangers. Comfort those whose health is poor and who feel themselves unequal to what is asked of them, and teach us to say with you, in every want and every fear, that we have nothing but Providence, and that Providence is enough.
And now, dear Saint Mother Theodore, we place in your hands the particular favor we ask through your intercession.
(mention request here…)
Obtain this for us, if it be according to the will of God and for the good of our souls, and obtain for us above all an unshaken confidence in the loving care of our Father.
Amen.
O God, who made Saint Mother Theodore Guerin a woman of faith and a mother to the poor and the young in a strange land, grant, through her intercession, that we may trust your Providence in every trial, labor cheerfully at the work you have given us, and bear injustice without losing charity. Through Christ our Lord.
Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be
St. Mother Theodore Guerin, pray for us!
Amen.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Answered Prayers from the Community
“I received tremendous peace throughout as well as new understandings. On the last day I received a beautiful gift I didn’t ask for, a beautiful memory of my son. I’m so grateful and extremely happy! Thank you St Michael!! Glory to you O sweet God!!”
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