ST.MARY-OF-THE-WOODS, Ind. (Map, News) - A statue of St. Mother Theodore Guerin, the foundress of the Sisters of Providence, will be dedicated Saturday at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.

After a Mass celebrated by Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the papal representative to the United States, pilgrims will walk outside to Mary's Garden for the blessing and dedication of the statue.

The statue was sculpted in clay by Terre Haute, Indiana, artist Teresa Clark. A mold then was made and sent to Ohio where carver Nicholas Fairplay created the final version in Indiana limestone, said spokesman Dave Cox of the Sisters of Providence, based at St. Mary-of-the-Woods.

Guerin was canonized in 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI as the first saint from Indiana. She came to the state from France in 1840 to establish an academy for girls now known as St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, the oldest Catholic liberal arts college for women in the United States.

Hundreds of pilgrims were expected to join a delegation from the Sisters of Providence for the dedication.