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Kateri Tekakwitha

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Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha
The oldest known portrait of Kateri Tekakwitha, painted after her death by Father Chauchetière
Virgin; Lily of the Mohawks
Born1656
Ossernenon, Iroquois Confederacy (Modern Auriesville, New York)
DiedApril 17, 1680
Kahnawake (near Montreal), Quebec, Canada
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church (United States and Canada)
BeatifiedJune 22, 1980, Rome by Pope John Paul II
CanonizedDecember 19, 2011, Rome by Pope Benedict XVI
Major shrineSt Francis Xavier Church, Kahnawake, Quebec, Canada
FeastJuly 14 (United States), April 17 (Canada)
Attributeslily; turtle
Patronageecologists
ecology
environment
environmentalism
environmentalists
exiles
loss of parents
people in exile
people ridiculed for their piety
Native Americans

Kateri Tekakwitha or Catherine Tekakwitha (Template:IPA-moh; 1656 – April 17, 1680) was a Mohawk-Algonquian woman from New York and an early convert to Catholicism, who has been beatified in the Roman Catholic Church.

Her life

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.[1] When Kateri was four, smallpox swept through Ossernenon, and Tekakwitha was left with poor eyesight, and unsightly scars on her face. This 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.[2] 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 Christianity. Her mother was Christian and had given Kateri a rosary, but her uncle took it away and discouraged 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,[2] 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 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.[citation needed] Kateri believed that offering her blood was in imitation of Christ's crucifixion. She changed this practice to stepping on burning coals when her close friend, Marie Therese, expressed her disapproval.[3] 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. 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!"[2] Saintly powers were attributed to Tekakwitha soon after her death.

Epitaphs

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," 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."[4]

Her experience helps to resolve moral issues surrounding the colonization of the New World by European Christians.[5]

Veneration

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

Tradition holds that 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. It is also held that she appeared to two different individuals in the weeks following her death.[6]

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. She is the first Native American to be so honoured, and as such she holds a special place of devotion among the native peoples of North America. Devotion to 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, 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.[7][8] On December 19, 2011, Kateri Tekekwitha was canonized alongside six others by Pope Benedict XVI. [9]

A larger-than-life-size bronze statue of Kateri, depicting the saint kneeling in prayer, installed in 2008 and created by artist Cynthia Hitschler,[10] is featured along the devotional walkway leading to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral, La Crosse, Wisconsin.[11]

There is also a life-size statue of Bl. Kateri at the National Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Fatima in Lewiston, NY, donated by the Gonzales Family of the Tuscarora Nation.[12]

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

The final step in the canonization process was awaiting a verified miracle, which was announced by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, as authorized by Pope Benedict XVI, on December 19, 2011.[13] Kateri's feast day in the United States is celebrated on July 14. Kateri was for some time after her death considered an honourary (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.

In Leonard Cohen's novel Beautiful Losers, Tekakwitha serves as a symbol of salvation.

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. {{cite book}}: Check |doi= value (help)
  3. ^ Jennings, Gary. Life Under the Hurons. Mentor Books.
  4. ^ Bunson, Margaret and Stephen, "Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Lily of this Mohawks," Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions brochure, pg.1
  5. ^ Richter, Daniel K. (2021). Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America. Harvard University Press. p. 81.
  6. ^ http://www.thelifeofkateritekakwitha.net/en/pc/chapter17.html
  7. ^ IGNATIN, HEATHER (2007-04-19). "Retablo draws crowds at Mission Basilica". Orange County Register. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
  8. ^ Mission San Juan Capistrano: Grand Retablo en Route to San Juan Capistrano, Installation expected March 19, Feb. 9, 2007
  9. ^ [1]
  10. ^ Cynthia Hitschler
  11. ^ "Mohawk Woman Enshrined at Shrine" (Orso, Joe), La Crosse TribuneJuly 31, 2008:[2]
  12. ^ Reports, Staff. "Lewiston: Statue Dedication at Fatima". Niagara Gazette. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
  13. ^ http://press.catholica.va/news_services/bulletin/news/28579.php?index=28579&lang=en

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

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