Theresa Maxis Duchemin
Mother Theresa Maxis Duchemin | |
|---|---|
| Foundress | |
| Church | Catholic Church |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Almeide Maxis Duchemin April 8, 1810 |
| Died | January 4, 1892 (aged 81) West Chester, Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Buried | Immaculata Cemetery, Immaculata, Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States |
Theresa Maxis Duchemin, IHM (born Almeide Maxis Duchemin, 1810–1892) was a Black Catholic missionary in Baltimore, Maryland. She was the first US-born African American to become a religious sister.
She helped found both the Oblate Sisters of Providence—the first order of Black nuns in the US—and the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The latter, founded in Monroe, Michigan, was the first predominantly White order founded by an African American. Duchemin served as one of the earliest Black mother superiors in the nation.
She opened multiple schools and orphanages in the Michigan and the Pennsylvania areas, and was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame. But the IHM sisters, which she founded, did not fully acknowledge her until 1992.