Nuestra Señora de la Providencia — Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana

Origin and history

The National Sanctuary of Our Lady of Providence in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods (Indiana) was canonically erected on May 1, 1925, becoming the first national sanctuary dedicated to this Marian advocation in the United States. The devotion to Our Lady of Divine Providence has its origin in Italy, in 1664, from where it extended to France and Spain.

The history of the sanctuary is linked to the Sisters of the Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, a religious congregation founded in 1840 by Holy Mother Theodora Guérin, a French religious sent from Ruillé-sur-Loir by Bishop Simon Bruté of the diocese of Vincennes to open schools and attend pastoral to the populations of the American Midwest. Saint Theodora Guérin was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on 15 October 2006; his remains rest in a sanctuary near the Church of the Immaculate Conception.

Monsignor A.J. Rawlinson, chaplain of the Sisters, saw in 1925 a reproduction of the "Mater Divinae Providentiae" at the Catholic University of America; after a trip to Rome to document himself on the advocation, he took to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods the pictures and information that led to the erection of the sanctuary.

The sanctuary and the Church of the Immaculate

The National Sanctuary of Our Lady of Providence is located in the lobby of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, an Italian Neorenacentalist style temple built in limestone in Indiana between 1886 and 1907. The whole of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods was registered in the National Register of Historical Places in 2017 for its artistic, architectural and historical values.

On the grounds of the mother house of the Sisters are also the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, the Chapel of Santa Ana with sea shells, the Chapel of the Most Holy Sacrament and a maze of meditation. Every year, thousands of prayer requests come to the sanctuary from all over the world, and the Sisters spend specific time intercede for each one.

Link to the Rosary

The advocation of Our Lady of Providence places the emphasis on the trust in God that Mary manifested throughout her life, from the "Be done in me according to your word" of the Annunciation to remain at the foot of the Cross. This attitude of abandonment entrusted to divine Providence is part of the spirit with which the faithful pray the Rosary, meditating on the mysteries of salvation with Mary. The Sisters of Providence integrate Marian devotion - including the Rosary - into their foundational spirituality.