VACTICAN CITY, Vatican City, June 24 (UPI) -- Pope Benedict XVI is close to announcing that a 19th-century Indiana nun will become America's eighth Catholic saint, The Indianapolis Star reported.
The Vatican said Friday the Blessed Mother Theodore Guerin -- who founded the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods near Terre Haute -- is one of four people whose dates for canonization are expected to be announced when the pope meets with Roman cardinals July 1, the newspaper said.
Guerin, a French-born nun who came to Indiana in 1840, started Catholic schools in several communities around Indiana and founded what is known today as St. Mary-of-the-Woods College. She died in 1856.
The church has attributed two miracles to her -- one in 1908 and another in 2001 -- including the medically unexplained healing of the eye of Phil McCord, a Sisters of Providence employee. Both miracles have brought Blessed Guerin to the brink of sainthood, the newspaper said.
Hundreds of Sisters of Providence nuns, school alumni and their family and friends are expected to travel to Rome for a canonization ceremony likely to take place in the fall.
