Kateri Tekakwitha

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Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-1680) is the first Native American to be venerated by the Roman Catholic church. As a Christian convert, in an Iroquois community that possessed a longstanding hostility to all things French, Tekakwitha became an outcast in her village and was forced to flee to a mission near Montreal, where she died at the age of 24. Sometimescalled "the Lily of the Mohawk," she was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1980.

Caught Between Two Cultures

Tekakwitha was born in 1656 in Ossernenon, near what is modern Auriesville, New York. Her father, Kenneronkwa, was a Mohawk and member of its Turtle clan. Her mother, Kahenta, was Algonquin and hailed from a village near Trois Rivieres, Quebec. Kahenta had been converted to Christianity by early missionaries to the area. The Algonquin were one of first Native American populaces to ally with French traders but were bitter foes of the Mohawk. The Mohawk were part of the mighty Iroquois League, a confederation of Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca nations. Politically organized and known as fierce belligerents, the Iroquois began trading with the Dutch and obtained firearms from them and used the weapons to renew hostilities with their neighbors beginning with a 1649 attack on the Huron. Several other communities were dispersed, among them the Algonquin to which Tekakwitha's mother belonged.

War had decimated the Iroquois ranks, however, and it became standard practice to take their defeated as prisoners and subsume them into the population of their Five Nations. Tekakwitha's mother had been captured by the Mohawk around 1653 and became part of a community in this way. Her union with Kenneronkwa resulted in a son and daughter, Tekakwitha. In 1660, when Tekakwitha was four years old, a smallpox epidemic decimated the community, and both her parents as well as her brother died. She survived the outbreak, though it left her face scarred and her vision impaired. She was taken in by her uncle, a village chief, who was a great foe of the Roman Catholic missionaries from France in the area. When Tekakwitha was ten years old the French emerged victorious over the Iroquois League, and the peace treaty permitted the determined order of Jesuit priests, whom the Native Americans called "Black Robes," access to Mohawk villages in order to convert the residents to Christianity.

Refused an Arranged Marriage

Tekakwitha's uncle was forced to be hospitable to three Jesuits fathers named Fremin, Bruyas, and Pierron, and assigned the 11-year-old Tekakwitha to look after them. She was reportedly impressed by their exemplary manners and conduct, and though she likely knew her mother was Christian, this may have been her first genuine introduction to Christianity. Eventually the Jesuits established St. Peter's Mission in 1670 and consecrated a chapel inside one of the traditional Iroquois longhouse dwellings. Two missionaries who took over noted that as a teen Tekakwitha became increasingly devout and rejected her family's attempts to arrange a marriage. They grew increasingly angry at her behavior and sometimes denied her food for her obstinacy.

It is likely that Tekakwitha had heard about a community of unwed women in Quebec who lived together in devotion to their Roman Catholic faith, as the Jesuits did; these women were called the Ursuline sisters. There was also some history of virgins and voluntary chastity in the Iroquois nation. However, Europeans had reportedly given these women alcohol and their behavior had brought shame on the Iroquois; such professions of celibacy had subsequently been prohibited. Tekakwitha's determination to remain unmarried was helped by the arrival of the Jesuit James de Lamberville in 1674 at St. Peter's. Tekakwitha confided in him that she wished to fully convert, and he encouraged her in that goal. After catechism classes, she was baptized on Easter Sunday of 1676 and given the name "Catherine," or Kateri.

Shunned by Community

Immediately Tekakwitha became a pariah in her village. "Her new religion angered her relatives and the villagers, who saw her conversion as a traitorous embracing of the white man's religion and a rejection of their own customs," noted America writer George M. Anderson. She remained there six months and was forbidden food on Sundays and Christian holidays because she refused to work in accordance with Christian doctrine. Her relatives and the other villagers increased their harassment campaign and even accused her of attempting to seduce other women's husbands at the remote prayer site she liked to visit.

To rescue her, Lamberville sent Tekakwitha to the Jesuit mission of Saint Francis Xavier, at Kanawake, Quebec, on the Sault Saint Louis straits. She made the 200-mile trip in 1677 with the help of other converted Native Americans, at a time when her vision was worsening. Her relatives were furious and sent a search party after her, but she was able to hide in tall grasses and elude them with the help of her traveling companions. The Saint Francis Xavier mission had several Christian Native Americans in residency, about 150 families, and Tekakwitha found a sympathetic spiritual mentor in Anastasie Tegonhatsiongo, who had known her mother. Tegonhatsiongo, however, agreed with Tekakwitha's family and believed it would be best if she married.

Known for Her Piety

Tekakwitha was still determined to become a nun, however, and at one point made a trip to Montreal and met the sisters of the Hotel-Dieu hospital there. She had gone with two other Native American women, and the three resolved to form their own religious community back at Kanawake. Tegonhatsiongo requested the intervention of one Father Cholenic, who consulted his superiors on the matter; all agreed that it was far too early for an exclusively Native American cloister, but Tekakwitha was finally granted her wish and allowed to take her vow of chastity on March 25, 1679, the Feast of Annunciation.

Tekakwitha's devotion to her religion was legendary. Her "penances," wrote Anderson in America, "went far beyond such standard practices as fasting and vigils. Walking barefoot in snow and whipping herself with reeds until her back bled were among the milder ones." She ate little, and sometimes mixed what she did with ashes first. She stood for hours barefoot in the snow before the cross, praying the rosary, and spent more hours inside the mission's unheated chapel on bare knees on the stone floor. She reportedly slept on a bed of thorns for three nights and even arranged to be flagellated. Such ascetic practices were the hallmarks of the truly devout Catholic saints, but they also had some precedence in Iroquois spirituality as well. Its system of belief held great store in dreams, which were termed "the language of the soul." To not dream, the Iroquois believed, was unhealthy, and so for those that could not attain or remember their dreams, there were means to induce a trance - either via a sweat-bath, fasting, chanting, or even acts of self-mutilation. The mixing of food and ashes that Tekakwitha tried also had its origins in these practices.

In the end, Tekakwitha's punishing penances were debilitating, and she died at the age of 24 on April 17, 1680. According the Jesuits who prayed over her body afterward, the smallpox scars on her face miraculously disappeared some 15 minutes after she died. On this account she was beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 30, 1980. A petition for her canonization was submitted to the Vatican in 1884, and her sainthood requires proof of one more miracle. There are quarterlies in her honor, among them Lily of the Mohawks, and Native American Catholics consider her an important historical and spiritual figure. She is also the patroness of the environment and ecology.

Books

Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIV, Robert Appleton Company, 1912, Online Edition, 2003.

Notable Native Americans, Gale, 1995.

Periodicals

America, October 1, 2001; December 2, 2002.

Daily News (Los Angeles, CA), September 12, 1999.

National Catholic Reporter, February 16, 1996.

Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha
The oldest known portrait of Kateri Tekakwitha, painted after her death by Father Chauchetière
Virgin; Lily of the Mohawks
Born	1656, Ossernenon, Iroquois Confederacy (Modern Auriesville, New York)
Died	April 17, 1680, Kahnawake (near Montreal), Quebec, Canada
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church (United States and Canada)
Beatified	June 22, 1980, Rome by Pope John Paul II
Major shrine	St Francis Xavier Church, Kahnawake, Quebec, Canada
Feast	July 14 (United States)
Attributes	lily; turtle
Patronage	ecologists ecology environment environmentalism environmentalists exiles loss of parents people in exile people ridiculed for their piety

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2008)

Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha or Blessed Catherine Tekakwitha (pronounced [ɡɔdeɺi deɡɔɡʷidɔ] in Mohawk; 1656 – April 17, 1680) was a Mohawk-Algonquian woman from New York and an early convert to Christianity, who has been beatified in the Roman Catholic Church.

Contents 1 Her life 2 Epithets 3 Veneration 4 Namesakes 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

Her life

Kateri Tekakwitha the daughter of a Mohawk chief, Kenneronkwa, and a Catholic Algonquin woman, Kahenta, was born in the Mohawk fortress of Ossernenon near present-day Auriesville, New York. Kahenta was baptized and educated by the French in Trois-Rivières like many of the Abenaki. She was captured there at the start of a war with the Iroquois and taken to Kenneronkwa's homeland.^[1] When Kateri was four, smallpox swept through Ossernenon, and Tekakwitha was left with unsightly scars on her face and poor eyesight. This outbreak took the lives of her brother and both her parents, Kahenta (Flower of the Prairie) and Kenneronkwa (Beloved). She was then adopted by her uncle, who was a chief of the Turtle Clan.^[2] As the adopted daughter of the chief, many young men sought her hand in marriage. However, during this time she began taking interest in Christianity. Her mother was Christian and had given Kateri a rosary, but her uncle took it away and encouraged her not to follow that religion.

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^[2] by Father Jacques de Lamberville, a Jesuit. At her baptism, she took the name "Kateri," a Mohawk pronunciation of the French name "Catherine". Tekakwitha literally means "she moves things."

Unable to understand her zeal, members of the tribe often chastised her, which she took as a testament to her faith. Kateri exercised physical mortification as a route to sanctity. She would occasionally put thorns upon her mat and lie on them, all the while praying for the conversion and forgiveness of her kinsmen. She discontinued this practice when her close friend, Marie Therese, and her confessor expressed their disapproval. Because she was persecuted by her Native American kin, which included threats to 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, as in the Catholic expression of Consecrated virginity. A year later, on April 17, 1680, Kateri died at the age of 24. Her last words are said to be, "Jesus, I love You!"^[2]

Epithets

Her grave stone reads:

"Kateri Tekakwitha

Ownkeonweke Katsitsiio Teonsitsianekaron

The fairest flower that ever bloomed among red men."

She is called "The Lily of the Mohawks," the "Mohawk Maiden," the "Pure and Tender Lily," and the "Flower among True Men," the "Lily of Purity" and "The New Star of the New World." According to Rev. Lawrence G. Lovasik's "Kateri of the Mohawks," her tribal neighbors called her "the fairest flower that ever bloomed among the redmen."^[3]

Veneration

Bronze sculpture of Kateri Tekakwitha in front of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, Santa Fe, New Mexico

According to eyewitness accounts, Kateri's scars vanished at the time of her death revealing a woman of immense beauty. It has been claimed that at her funeral many of the ill who attended were healed on that day.^{[citation needed]} It is also held that she appeared to two different individuals in the weeks following her death.^[4]

The process for her canonization began in 1884. She was declared Venerable by Pope Pius XII on January 3, 1943. She was later beatified on 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 in the Roman Catholic Church, and as such she holds a special place of devotion among the Native/Aboriginal Catholics of North America. Devotion to Blessed Kateri is clearly manifest in at least three 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.. Likewise, she has been commemorated by a statue on the outside of the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in Quebec. In 2007, Blessed Kateri was featured along with Blessed Junipero Serra, Saint Joseph, and Saint 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.^[5][6]

A larger-than-life-size bronze statue of Blessed Kateri depicting the Saint kneeling in prayer, installed in 2008 and created by artist Cynthia Hitschler^[7] is featured along the devotional walkway leading to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral, La Crosse, Wisconsin.^[8]

Statue of Kateri Tekakwitha at the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, near Quebec City.

The final step in the canonization process is awaiting a verified miracle. Blessed Kateri's feast day in the United States is celebrated on July 14. Kateri was for some time after her death considered an honorary (though unofficial) patroness of Montreal, Canada, and Native Americans. Fifty years after her death a Convent for Native American nuns was opened in Mexico, whose residents pray daily for her canonization.^{[citation needed]}

Namesakes

The following churches have been named in her honor:

• Kateri Tekakwitha Roman Catholic Church in Peshawbestown, Michigan, on the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians Reservation
• Blessed Kateri Tekawitha Roman Catholic Church in LaGrange, New York.
• Blessed Kateri Tekawitha Roman Catholic Church in Santa Clarita, California
• Saint Kateri Tekakwitha Catholic Community of Poquoson & Tabb, in Tabb, Virginia
• Church of the Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, located in Plymouth, Massachusetts
• Church of Gichitwaa Kateri in Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Catholic Church in Exeter, Rhode Island
• Blessed Kateri Tekawitha Parish in South Tucson, Arizona

Other namesakes include:

• The Kateri School, an elementry school in Kahnawake (the Mohawk territory where Kateri lived for some time) is also named after her.
• Camp Tekakwitha^[9] is a Francophone summer camp in Maine, named in her honor.

See also

• Roman Catholicism in the United States#American Catholic Servants of God, Venerables, Beatified, and Saints
• New Monasticism
• Catherine of Siena after whom Bl. Kateri took her name.
• St. David Pendleton Oakerhater (Cheyenne), the first Native American saint, canonized in the Episcopal Church

References

1. ^ Kahenta
2. ^ ^{a b c} Lodi, Enzo (1992). Saints of the Roman Calendar (Eng. Trans.). New York: Alba House. pp. 419 pp.. doi:BX4655.2.L63513. ISBN 0-8189-0652-9. 
3. ^ Bunson, Margaret and Stephen, "Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Lily of the Mohawks," Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions brochure, pg.1
4. ^ Father Pierre Cholenec's biography of the Kateri Tekakwitha and her details of her apparitions [1]
5. ^ IGNATIN, HEATHER (2007-04-19). "Retablo draws crowds at Mission Basilica". Orange County Register. http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1662425.php. Retrieved 2008-08-20. 
6. ^ Mission San Juan Capistrano: Grand Retablo en Route to San Juan Capistrano, Installation expected March 19, Feb. 9, 2007
7. ^ Cynthia Hitschler
8. ^ "Mohawk Woman Enshrined at Shrine" (Orso, Joe), La Crosse TribuneJuly 31, 2008:[2]
9. ^ Camp Tekakwitha

External links

• "Consecrated Life" - Catechism of the Catholic Church
• New Kateri Tekakwitha biography at The Wampum Chronicles
• Canadian Dictionary of Biography Online: Kateri Tekakwitha
• Kateri Tekakwitha website
• Catholic Forum Patron Saint's Index: Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha
• Saints & Angels Index: Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha
• The (U.S.) National Kateri Shrine, in Fonda, New York
• Kateri's Life
• The Life of Catherine Tekakwitha, as narrated by Father Claude Chauchetière, 1695
• The (U.S.) National Shrine of the North American Martyrs, in Auriesville, New York
• Catholic Conservation Center's Page about Kateri Tekakwitha
• "Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha". Catholic Encyclopedia. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14471a.htm. 
• Kateri Tekakwitha at Find a Grave

Stages of Canonization in the Roman Catholic Church
Servant of God   →   Venerable   →   Blessed   →   Saint

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