| Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha | |
|---|---|
Oldest known portrait of Kateri Tekakwitha, circa 1690 by Father Chauchetière |
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| Virgin[1]; Religious Lay Woman, Lily of the Mohawks | |
| Born | 1656 Ossernenon, Iroquois Confederacy (New France until 1763, Modern Auriesville, New York) |
| Died | April 17, 1680 Kahnawake (near Montreal), Quebec, Canada |
| Honored in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | June 22, 1980, Rome by Pope John Paul II |
| Major shrine | St Francis Xavier Church, Kahnawake, Quebec, Canada |
| Feast | July 14 (United States), April 17 (Canada) |
| Attributes | Lily flower; Turtle; Rosary |
| Patronage | ecologists, ecology, environment, environmentalism, environmentalists, loss of parents, people in exile, people ridiculed for their piety, Native Americans |
Kateri Tekakwitha Mohawk: "Te-kak-wee-da" also known as Lily of the Mohawks Anglicized as "Kateri" Katherine (1656 – April 17, 1680) was a 24 year old Algonquian Native American religious lay woman from New France (present-day New York) and an early convert to Roman Catholicism after being shunned by her family and pagan tribe. Known for her chastity and corporal mortification of the flesh, she is the first Native American woman to be venerated in the Roman Catholic Church. Tekakwitha was beatified by Blessed Pope John Paul II in 1980 and is scheduled to be canonized by Pope Benedict XVI as early as May 2012.[2]
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Kateri Tekakwitha was the daughter of Kenneronkwa, a Mohawk chief, and Tagaskouita, a Roman Catholic Algonquian. Tekakwitha was born in the Mohawk fortress of Ossernenon near present-day Auriesville, New York. Kateri's mother was baptized and educated by French missionaries in Trois-Rivières, like many Abenaki converts. She was captured there at the start of a war with the Iroquois and taken to the Mohawk homeland.[3] When Kateri was four, smallpox swept through Ossernenon, and Tekakwitha was left with poor eyesight, and unsightly scars on her face.
This disease outbreak took the lives of her brother and both her parents. She was then adopted by her uncle, who was a chief of the Turtle Clan.[4] As the adopted daughter of the chief, many young men sought her hand in marriage, in spite of her disfigured face. She realized that this was only for political purposes and was disgusted by the idea of a loveless marriage. During this time she took an interest in the Roman Catholic faith. Her mother was Christian and had given Kateri a rosary yet her uncle took it away and discouraged religious conversion.
In 1666, Alexandre de Prouville burned down Ossernenon. Kateri's clan then settled on the north side of the Mohawk River, near what is now Fonda, New York. While living here, at the age of 20, Tekakwitha was baptized on Easter Sunday, April 18, 1676,[4] by Father Jacques de Lamberville, a Jesuit. At her baptism, she took the name Kateri, a Mohawk pronunciation of the French name Catherine, after Catherine of Siena. Tekakwitha means, "one who puts things in order."
Unable to understand her newfound religious zeal, members of the tribe often chastised her, which she took as a testament to her faith. Kateri exercised physical mortification of the flesh as a route to sanctity. She occasionally put thorns upon her sleeping mat and lay on them, while praying for the conversion and forgiveness of her kinsmen. Piercing the body to draw blood was a traditional practice of the Hurons, Iroquois, as well as the Mohawks. Kateri also believed that offering her blood through penances was a way to imitate Christ's crucifixion. She changed this practice to stepping on burning coals when her close friend, Marie Therese, expressed her disapproval[5].
Because Kateri was persecuted by her Native American kin by threatening her life, she fled to an established community of Native American Christians in Kahnawake, Quebec, where she lived a life dedicated to prayer, penance, and care for the sick and aged. In 1679, she took a vow of chastity. A year later, on April 17, 1680, Kateri died at the age of 24. Her last words are said to have been Jesus, I love You![4] Miraculous events are said to have occurred after her death.
Kateri's grave stone reads:
| “ | Kateri Tekakwitha Ownkeonweke Katsitsiio Teonsitsianekaron |
” |
Because of Tekakwitha's notable path to chastity, she is often referred to as a Lily flower, a traditional symbol of purity among Roman Catholics. Religious images of Tekakwitha are often decorated with a lily flower and cross, with feathers or turtle as cultural accessories. Other colloquial terms for Tekakwitha are The Lily of the Mohawks (most notable), the Mohawk Maiden, the Pure and Tender Lily, the Flower among True Men, the Lily of Purity and The New Star of the New World. Her tribal neighbors called her The fairest flower that ever bloomed among the redmen.[6] Many devotees often use Tekakwitha's virtues as an ecumenical bridge for many Native Americans who feel shunned or discriminated by early European Christians.
Tradition holds that Kateri's smallpox scars vanished at the time of her death, causing Pope Pius XII to declare it as an authentic miracle in 1943[7]. There are also claims that many pilgrims at her funeral were healed. It is also held that Kateri appeared to two different individuals in the weeks following her death[8].
The process for her canonization began in 1884. In 3 January 1943, she was declared venerable by Pope Pius XII. She was later beatified on June 22, 1980 by Pope John Paul II. On December 19, 2011, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints certified a second miracle through her intercession, paving the way for pending canonization[9]. She is the first Native American woman to qualify for Sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church.
Devotion to Kateri is found in three national shrines in the United States, namely the National Shrine of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha 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. A statue of Kateri is on the outside of the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in Quebec, Canada. In 2007, Kateri was featured along with Junipero Serra, St. Joseph, and Francis of Assisi in the Grand Retablo, a newly installed work by Spanish artisans, standing over forty feet high behind the main altar of the Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano in Orange County, California.[10][11]
A bronze statue of Blessed Kateri kneeling in prayer was installed in 2008 and created by artist Cynthia Hitschler,[12] is featured along the devotional walkway leading to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, La Crosse, Wisconsin.[13] Another life-size statue of Blessed Kateri resides at the National Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Fatima in Lewiston, New York.[14]
In 19 December 2011, Pope Benedict XVI approved the miracle needed for Blessed Kateri's canonization ceremony (as well as those of other blessed individuals) which will take place at a Papal Mass, some time after a formal consistory of Cardinals resident in Rome[15]. Kateri's feast day in the United States is celebrated on July 14. Kateri was for some time after her death considered an honorary yet unofficial patroness of Montreal, Canada, and Native Americans. Fifty years after her death a convent for Native American nuns was opened in Mexico, who prays and supports her canonization.
In Leonard Cohen's novel Beautiful Losers, Tekakwitha serves as a symbol of salvation.
11. Nancy Shoemaker, "Kateri Tekakwitha's Torturous Path to Sainthood," in Nancy Shoemaker, ed.
12. Henri Bechard, "Tekakwitha", Dictionary of Canadian Biography (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1966) vol.1
| Stages of canonization in the Catholic Church |
|---|
| Servant of God → Venerable → Blessed → Saint |