The United States and France are across the Atlantic Ocean from each other. Quite a distance to travel even now - but even more difficult in Mother Theodore's time.
On July 12, 1840, Sister St. Theodore and five other Sisters of Providence of Ruillé left France to journey to the United States.
Sister St. Theodore wrote in her journal: “The moment of separation and of death had come at last. We had to leave all. After having made the most painful sacrifices, which had cost our hearts so much, we had to break the last ties by tearing ourselves away from our dear ‘Providence’ of Ruillé that home so tenderly loved by all the Sisters of Providence.”
The six women religious left Le Havre, along the Normandy coast, July 27 on the Cincinnati, bound for the United States.
| Sister St. Theodore certainly understood the pain and sadness associated with moving away from family and friends. She spoke French and didn’t know English, which was spoken in the U.S. There were no telephones or e-mails with which to talk with friends, just written letters, mailed by “slow boat.” It took courage for her to leave everything she knew and begin a new life in a new land. |
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