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The Saint-To-Be
I am drawn to Blessed Kateri for a number of reasons. First is my love of Native American culture. Secondly, Blessed Kateri was a convert to Christianity & to Roman Catholicism as I am myself. Thirdly, I have a small statue of St. Francis Xavier in my bedroom. It's been there since before my conversion. St. Francis Xavier was a Jesuit Priest whose name was given to the mission which Blessed Kateri fled to and lastly, the founder of the Jesuit order of priests was St. Ignatius Loyola. Not far from where I live is a church named after St. Ignatius. <
Who is Kateri Tekakwitha? Kateri is the Iroquois form of Catherine. Iroquois is a member of a confederation of American Indian peoples of North America, originally known as the Five Nations, it included, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca and Mohawk. It was the baptismal name given to Tekakwitha in 1676. Tekakwitha was Mohawk. The name Tekakwitha has been translated many ways, some have been "She who puts things in order," "She who moves things before her," She feels her way with her hands," the latter being because her eyesight was very poor due to smallpox when she was young. The name Kateri is pronounced by the Mohawks as Gah-Dah-LEE Degh-Agh-WEEdtha.
Kateri has been known as:
The Story of Kateri Tekakwitha Tekakwitha was born on 17th April 1656 in an Iroquois village called Ossernenon, near where Albany, New York is now. Tekakwitha's father was an Iroquois Indian Chief and warrior of the Turtle clan. Her mother, Kahontake (also known as Kahenta) was a Christian woman from the Algonquin tribe from Trois Rivieres. Her mother had been taken prisoner by the the chief during a raid on the town of Trois-Rivieres and the Algonquin village of Sachem Charles Pachirini in Quebec, New France, and ended up marrying the chief. When Tekakwitha was 4 years old both her parents and her younger brother died in a smallpox epidemic which almost wiped out the whole of their village. Her mother's dying wish was that one day Kateri would be baptised. Thankfully, Tekakwitha escaped the same fate as her parents but her face was badly scarred and her sight was badly affected.
Tekakwitha's Adoption Tekakwitha was adopted by her uncle, her father's brother, who succeeded to chief and she went to live with the family in her uncle's longhouse. The remaining residents abandoned the village and settled in Caughnawaga, 5 miles north across the Mohawk River. Her uncle was against Christianity and this caused a problem within the household as Tekakwitha had a strong love for it. Tekakwitha had all the skills of a very good wife. She was a very quiet, obedient girl who worked in the fields and cooked simple meals, made baskets and although her eyesight was bad due to the smallpox, she had a great talent for beadwork and embroidery. Her skills made up for her disfigurement. Tekakwitha was not like the other Mohawk girls who loved to dance and join in the Mohawk celebrations and surprised her aunts and uncles by showing no interest whatsoever in marriage. This caused a lot of tension in the household as Tekakwitha's future husband was to provide for the family when the Chief became too old to do so himself. She could not bear to witness suffering and would refuse to watch or take part in the torturing of prisoners which the other young Mohawk girls participated in to attract your braves, with a view to becoming the wife of one of them. She was frequently shunned by the villagers because she was different.
Tekakwitha's Conversion to Christianity within the Catholic church On many occasions Tekakwitha saw The Black Robes come into her village. There seemed to be an aura of goodness surrounding these holy men. Tekakwitha was fascinated by the men they called The Black Robes but her uncle, on the other hand, believed that The Black Robes were responsible for bringing disease and bad omens into the village and Tekakwitha was forbidden to listen or talk to them and they were not allowed in her uncle's longhouse. One day three French missionaries, Fathers Fremin, Bruyas and Pierron visited her village and stayed for several days. Tekakwitha's uncle was forced to invite them into his longhouse. They spent three days in her uncle's lodge. Tekakwitha remembered the strange stories her mother used to whisper to her about a maiden who bore a great son. She watched the missionaries with great curiosity as they knelt and prayed with their beads in their hands. From then on Tekakwitha had one wish, to become a Christian herself. The missionary priests only stayed in her village for a few days but a permanent chapel was established for them by Father Jacques de Lamberville.
Tekakwitha longed to be able to go to the chapel, learn the new faith, receive holy waters of baptism but her uncle had forbidden her to go anywhere near it or to even speak with a missionary. One day in 1675 Tekakwitha, whilst sitting in the longhouse, her foot aching from an injury, alone except for some sick older women, a figure appeared in the doorway. Father Jacques de Lamberville was out walking. He knew he wasn't welcome in the chief's cabin but assuming that the cabin would be empty, that the chief would be out hunting or trading and the women were out working in the fields, especially the young niece of the chief, who was the hardest worker, he decided to take a look inside the cabin. Tekakwitha was overjoyed to see the priest standing there in front of her. Forgetting her sore, aching foot, her half-finished beadwork on her lap and the elderly women, Tekakwitha dropped to her knees before Father de Lamberville and told him she wanted to be a Christian. Explained to him how her mother was a Christian and that she wanted to follow the Lord as her mother did.
Mohawk Longhouses
The Priest was astonished by this but touched by the young woman's eagerness and sincerity. Somehow he managed to secure her uncle's permission, and forgoing the usual trial period, a date was set for Tekakwitha's baptism. On Easter Sunday , 5th April 1676, at the age of 20, Tekakwitha entered the chapel at St. Peter's Mission in Caughnawaga to become a Catholic. Her young, pure heart was bursting with happiness as she knelt before the priest. Tears of true happiness flowed from her eyes as the holy water was poured over her. It was then that she was given the name of Catherine, Kateri in Mohawk.
From the moment Kateri learned of the Blessed Mother of Jesus, she became very devoted to her. She memorised and cherished the Litany. She learned to love the Rosary and was never without her beads. She announced that she would rather die than be separated from those precious beads. Her words almost became prophetic. After her conversion to Christianity, Kateri was subjected to abuse by her family and neighbours. As she walked to the chapel mud and stones were thrown at her. Drunks and children mocked her, calling her "the Christian" as if it were a filthy name. Her aunts refused her food on Sundays because she would not work on the Sabbath.
Kateri's Persecution One afternoon, as Kateri sat alone in her in her cabin, an angry man burst in. He brandished a war club at her, shouting and hollering at her and trying to make her renounce her new religion. Kateri looked at him and quietly said, "You may take my life, but not my faith." She then bowed her head in silent prayer, waiting for the blow which would end her life. Her serenity unnerved the intruder; he threw down his weapon and fled. Kateri Tekakwitha had an inner strength that would have made any ancient martyr proud. Around this time, Kateri's family tried to trick her into marrying against her will. One evening they insisted she got dressed in her finest clothes and decorate her hair with beads and ribbons. She could hear people arriving outside, the guests. The family urged her to sit in a prominent place beside the fire. A young hunter entered the house with his family. He took a seat beside Kateri as the two families exchanged pleasantries. Kateri was surprised by the young man's arrival and the gifts his family carried. Then her aunts placed a bowl of hot corn soup in her hands, urging her to serve it to the man. Her aunts' deception suddenly became clear to her; if she presented the bowl to the hunter, it meant that she had accepted him as a husband. She stared at her family around her in silence. This marriage was not what she wanted. There was another path, though still unknown, which she had to follow. She threw down the bowl and ran into the darkness of the cornfields. She hid there until the young man left. When she returned home, it was to more anger and harassment.
Kateri Flees from her Uncle's Home The following year she was given help by an Oneida Chief, Louis Garonhiague and she fled from her uncle's home. French Jesuit priests had established a mission, the Saint Francis Xavier mission, which was also called Caughnawaga, near Montreal by the St. Lawrence River in Canada and she fled to there. It was a long journey, over three hundred miles along wilderness trails, through lonely valleys and rugged, dangerous mountains. Kateri's faith flourished at Caughnawaga. She made friends who were eager to grow spiritually as she was. Devoted to Jesus, Kateri's motto became "Who will teach me what is most agreeable to God that I may do it?"
During Christmas following her arrival at Caughnawaga, Kateri was allowed to receive Holy Communion for the first time. Her joy at receiving the Body of Christ was reflected on her ravaged face. Her devotion to Our Lady increased. She practiced special devotions on all Saturdays and on Mary's feast days. When, less than a year before her death, she took a vow of virginity, she also dedicated herself to the Blessed Virgin Mary and begged the Mother of God to look after her as an adopted daughter.
The Jesuits noticed that her whole being was animated by divine inspiration. She attended Mass every morning at 4am, even in the coldest of weather, spent the whole of her Sundays in church, frequently indulged in self inflicted suffering as penance and took a vow of chastity. She never became a nun but she did ask for permission to open a convent but this was not granted to her due to her young age and inexperience. It was then that Kateri decided to never marry but to consecrate to God her virginity. On the Feast of the Annunciation, march 25th 1679 at 8am, just after taking Holy Communion, she gave herself totally to Him by renouncing marriage moreover, she promised Him perpetual virginity. Then with a heart full of His Love, she asked Him to be her only Spouse and to take her as His spouse in return. She then prayed to Our Lady and consecrated herself to Mary, asking her to be her mother and she her daughter.
Kateri's spiritual directors described has as having an "angelic innocence", but she always regarded herself as being weak and a terrible sinner. So she took to punishing her already suffering body, offering up her sufferings to Jesus Christ. She wore a spiked belt beneath her clothing, scourged her thin shoulders, mixed ashes into her simple food and once slept for several nights on a bed strewn with vicious thorns. When told that fire was the cruelest torture, Kateri used hot coals to brand herself as Christ's slave and joyfully offered up her wounds to Him. She only relinquished her most severe penances on the advice of her spiritual director.
Every morning Kateri would go out, struggling in the deep snow in the wintertime, and she'd recite the Rosary whilst walking around the edge of a cornfield. Her hands would be near-frozen, yet she'd carry on, reciting the Hail Mary in her native tongue:
Wari, tekonnoronkwanious, ise tsiati roranerenstaka, Rawennio seniwekon, sonhaa tsiui hiakounienstha, lesos oni hetsientha, raonhaa tsini honwasennaiens. Wari, saiatakenti, Niio hetsienha, takwaterennaienhs ionkwarwanerahakso, nonwa nok oni tsi nenttiakwenneionsere.
Three times Kateri would circle the large field, sinking deeper and deeper into the snow often stumbling due to her weak health as well as the snow. She'd carry on until she had recited the full 15 decades of the Rosary.
Kateri's health was always very poor, and her body was made more frail through her extraordinary penances. About a year before her death she caught a fever and was tormented by headaches and violent stomach pains, she vomited frequently, and her strength ebbed. She was confined to her bed for months; her rosary twined her weak fingers. During the last month of her life, she was sleeping on a bed of pine-needles which ruined what little health she had left. On 17th April 1680, it was the Wednesday of Holy Week, Kateri died around 3pm. She was only 23 years old. On her deathbed she received Communion for the last time and whispered to her friends that she would remember them in Heaven. Not unlike Saint Therese, the Little Flower, she promised, "I shall love you in Heaven, I shall pray for you and help you." Her last words were, "Jesus, Mary, I love You!" Just 15 minutes after she died Father Cholonec saw that a great change took place in her appearance. The smallpox scars she bore since a child of 4 years old disappeared and she instantly became beautiful with a clear skin. Perhaps that was the very moment she entered Heaven.
sacophogus at the Shrine of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha in St. Francis Xavier Church
The marble sacophogus inside the church
Kateri's Road to Sainthood
It takes a long time to become a Saint. It can take centuries. The candidate must have lived a life totally devoted to God and the Catholic way of life. The candidate must have been an honest and pure servant of the Lord and must have set an example for others to follow. The first step is to become Venerable. This only takes place when it can be proved that the person in question had performed a miracle. Normally, this is after the person has died and entered Heaven and the miracle was performed through prayer of others. Once the person has become Venerable the next stage is Beatification. This is when the Cardinals have decided that the candidate has performed a true divine miracle. The next step is Canonization. The Catholic church must wait for another miracle to occur, this must be that God himself has performed a miracle through the intercession of the candidate. The Pope himself performs the ceremony of Canonization at St. Paul's Basilica in Rome.
On
January 3rd 1943, Pope Pius XII declared Kateri "Venerable".
Kateri's Representation Symbols Kateri is represented as a lily, the symbol of purity, a cross as a symbol of her love of Jesus and a turtle, being the symbol of her Native American clan.
What is Kateri patron of? Since her beautification Kateri has been known as the Patron Saint of Ecology along with St. Francis of Assisi. She is the Patroness of the environment, environmentalists and ecologists. She is also regarded as a patroness of exiles, smallpox sufferers, orphans and people who are mocked for their faith. As well as Our Lady, the Virgin Mary (under her title of the Immaculate Conception), Kateri is the Patroness of the Order of Consecrated Virgins in the USA.
Kateri's Feast Day Kateri has two Feast Days. Usually, a Saint's (or Blessed's) feast day is the date of their death, which is 17th April and it is celebrated on that day in Canada. But as the date sometimes conflicts with Holy Week and Easter, and the fact that both Kateri's shrines in the USA are closed on that day, a new date, 14th July was found for her so that her feast day can be celebrated in the land of her birth.
The Lord's Prayer in Mohawk Takwaien; 'a ne karonhi:ake teshi:teron, alesa'sen:naien, aiesawenniios:take, aiseawennara:kwake ne ohontsia:ke tsini:iot ne karonhia:ke kiesawennarakwa. Takwa:nont ne kienwen:te' iakionhe'kwen nia 'tewennisera:ke sahsa' nikonhrhen ne ionkwariwane:ren tsini:lot ni:i tsionkwa'nikonhrhens ne othenon ionki'nikonraksa:ta' ne onkwe, tosa aionkwa'senni ne kariwane:ren ahkwekon aehren shawit ne io'taksen:se. Etho Naia:wen.
This is a picture of the where the Jesuit Mission stood in the Mohawk Valley
The statue of Blessed Kateri which stands in
the grounds of
Prayer for the Canonization of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha
O God, among the many marvels of Your Grace
in the New World, Amen
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On 22nd June
1980 Kateri was declared 'Blessed' by Pope John Paul II who waived the miracle
needed for Beatification. One more miracle is needed before she can be Canonised.
If it is decided that she will be canonised, this will make Kateri the first
Native American to become a Saint. Other Native Americans have been made
'Blessed' or 'Venerable', but none has actually become a Saint. For those
Catholics who are looking for a Confirmation name, you can choose Kateri
as she was made 'Blessed. But not only that, Kateri is the Mohawk form of
Catherine and we have Saints called Catherine and, of course, their name
has been taken in Confirmations.
