It has been a very busy month and I am a bit behind in the calendar, so I’ll throw it all into one bunch this time — at least some of the events.
As I mentioned in the last post, May 6th was the date that started it all. May is always an important time in the life of the Church as well as that Church’s history in Indiana.
May 11th was the 139th anniversary of the birth of Bishop Joseph Chartrand, who was born in St. Louis in 1870. Chartrand was ordained at Indianapolis on September 24, 1892. Appointed vicar general, February 13, 1910. Named titular bishop of Flavias and coadjutor to the bishop of Indianapolis, July 27, 1910. Consecrated in the cathedral at Indianapolis, September 15, 1910, by Archbishop Diomede Falconio, apostolic delegate to the United States, assisted by Bishop Denis O’Donaghue of Louisville and Bishop Herman Alerding of Fort Wayne. He became the Bishop of Indianapolis on September 7, 1918. Named assistant at the pontifical throne, February 4, 1928. Died at Indianapolis, December 8, 1933. His body was placed in the crypt of the cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul, but on June 8, 1976, his remains were transferred to the Calvary Chapel Mausoleum.
The following day, May 12th, marked the 131st anniversary of Bishop Francis Silas Marean Chatard’s consecration as Bishop, which took place in Rome in 1878.
May 17th marks the 170th anniversary of the naming of the Right Rev. Célestin René Laurent Guynemer de la Hailandière as the coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Vincennes in 1839. His predecessor, Servant of God, Simon Bruté, died a mere 40 days later, never knowing that Hailandière had been named his successor.
Finally, (and the personalities and dates of these individuals all fit together) yesterday, May 14th marked the 153rd anniversary of the death of our very own Saint Mother Theodore, Anne-Thérèse Guérin, Saint Theodora Guérin who died in 1856. The “Catholic Telegraph and Advocate” in Cincinnati, Ohio, published the following notice about Mother Theodore’s death.
“Died – At Saint Mary’s-of-the-Woods (sic), in the 58th year of her age, Wednesday, 14th inst., Sister St. Theodore, Superior General of the Sisters of Providence in Indiana.
“This woman, distinguished by her eminent virtues, governed the community of which she was the superior from its commencement, to the time of her death, a period of nearly sixteen years. Being a perfect religious herself, and endowed with mental qualities of a high order, she was peculiarly fitted to fill the duties which Providence assigned her.
“Not only her Sisters are bereaved by her death, but all those who knew her excellence and the amount of good she did, join in lamenting that she should have been removed from the sphere of her usefulness. Tojudge from the celestial expression of her countenance as she lay in death, there is every reason to believe that she has already taken her abode among the Saints in Heaven, enjoying the munificence of God, who rewards His servants ‘according to their works.’”
I have said it before, and I say it here again, this is all pretty simple stuff for such a holy woman! But, perhaps that is the point…
