Page:Lest We Forget The Sisters of Providence in Civil War Service.djvu/8

Her example and prestige drew many others to the little society, among the number being Mother Theodore Guerin, the foundress of St. Mary-of-the-Woods. Mother Theodore and her five associates arrived at their wilderness home, five miles beyond the Wabash River west of Terre Haute, Indiana, October 22, 1840. Although the Indiana foundation was made chiefly for educational purposes, the religious Rule included in its scope the care of the sick at their homes or in hospitals. Mother Theodore had made in France a four year course in medicine and pharmacy. One of the other pioneer Sisters had had some hospital training. Together they would carry on in the New World, and prepare others to carry on, this work of mercy and zeal as occasion offered.