Kateri Tekakwitha

Kateri Tekakwitha ( 1656 – April 17 , 1680 ), the daughter of a Mohawk warrior and a Christian Algonquin woman, was born in the Mohawk fortress of Ossernenon near present-day Auriesville, New York . At the age of 4 Smallpox swept through Ossernenon, and Tekakwitha was left with unsightly scars and poor eyesight. The outbreak took the lives of her brother and both her parents and Tekakwitha was adopted by her uncle, who was the chief of the Turtle-clan.

In 1666 , Marquis Alexandre De Prouville De Tracy burned down Ossernenon. A new fort, Caughnawaga , was built on the north side of the Mohawk River in what is now Fonda, New York . While living here Tekakwitha was converted and Baptized in 1676 by Father Jacques De Lamberville , a Jesuit . At her baptism, she took the name "Kateri", a Mohawk pronunciation of "Catherine".

Because she was persecuted by her Indian kin, she moved to Kahnawake , Canada where she lived a life dedicated to prayer, penitential practices, and care for the sick and aged. In 1679 , she took a vow of Chastity . A year later, Kateri Tekakwitha died at the age of 24.

She is called "The Lily of the Mohawks."

VENERATION

According to Catholic belief, Kateri's scars vanished at the time of her death. It is also held that she appeared to two different individuals in the weeks following her death.

The process of her Canonization began in 1884 . She was declared Venerable by Pope Pius XII on January 3 , 1943 . She was Beatified June 22 , 1980 by Pope John Paul II , and as such she is properly referred to as "Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha" within the Roman Catholic Church . She is the first Native American to be so honored, and as such she holds a special place of devotion among the Catholics of North and Central America. Devotion to Blessed Kateri is clearly manifest in at least 3 national shrines in the United States alone, including the National Kateri Shrine in Fonda, New York , the National Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville, New York , and the Basilica Of The National Shrine Of The Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

As Of 2004 , her Canonization is currently awaiting a verified miracle. Her feast day in the United States is celebrated on July 14.

IN LITERATURE

Kateri Tekakwitha figures prominently as a character in fiction by Leonard Cohen ('' Beautiful Losers '') and William Vollmann (''Fathers and Crows'').

Nancy Shoemaker's article "Kateri Tekakwitha's Tortuous Path to Sainthood," from ''Negotiators of Change: Historical Perspectives on Native American Women,'' links Tekakwitha's role with the history of women in North America.

Allan Greer's 2005 book ''Mohawk Saint : Catherine Tekakwitha and the Jesuits'' is a most enlightening look at her life, as well as that of her Jesuit biographers/hagiographers, and questions the way social/religious/cultural groups and even research sources themselves are analyzed in historiography.

EXTERNAL LINKS

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Kateri Tekakwitha