Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha

On July 14^th, the Catholic Church in the United States celebrates the feast day of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha.  She was beatified in1980, and when she is canonized on October 21^st, she will be the first Native American saint.

Kateri was born in 1656 in a Mohawk village in what is now New York.  She was the daughter of a Mohawk chief and a Christian Algonquin woman.  When she was four years old, her parents and brother were killed by smallpox, and she herself was scarred and left almost blind from the disease.  Kateri was adopted and raised by relatives of her father, but never forgot her mother’s devotion to Christ.

Further influenced by the Jesuit missionaries, Kateri was baptized at the age of twenty, and because of that was treated with hostility in her tribe.  She refused to work on Sunday, and so she was not allowed to eat on that day.  Wanting to live more fully as a disciple, Kateri left her tribe and went to live in colony of Native American Christians in Canada.  She lived a life of faith, caring for the elderly and the sick, before dying on April 17, 1680 at the age of twenty-four.  She is known as the “Lily of the Mohawks” and is the patroness of the environment.

In 2008, Pope Benedict came to the United States.  It was close to April 17^th, the Feast Day of Blessed Kateri in nearby Canada, and the pope mentioned her in a talk to young people and seminarians.  This is what he said:

“Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Saint John Neumann, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Venerable Pierre Toussaint, and Padre Felix Varela:  any one of us could be among them, for there is no stereotype to this group, no single mold.  Yet a closer look reveals that there are common elements . Inflamed with the love of Jesus, their lives became remarkable journeys of hope... For each there was an act of abandonment to God, in the confidence that he is the final destination of every pilgrim.  And all offered an outstretched hand of hope to those they encountered along the way, often awakening in them a life of faith.  Through orphanages, schools and hospitals, by befriending the poor, the sick and the marginalized, and through the compelling witness that comes from walking humbly in the footsteps of Jesus, these six people laid open the way of faith, hope and charity to countless individuals, including perhaps your own ancestors….”

“The saints show us the selfless love of (Jesus Christ).”  In celebrating feasts of saints, we are inspired to imitate their examples in our own lives.