Memorial of St Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American Saint

Kateri Tekakwitha given the name Tekakwitha, was baptized as Catherine, and informally known as Lily of the Mohawks (1656 – April 17, 1680)

 

Prayer to Saint Kateri from Divine Office July 14, 2023 Afternoon Prayer

St. Kateri Tekakwitha is the first Native American to be recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church.

Tekakwutha was an Algonquin–Mohawk. Born in the Mohawk village of Ossernenon, in present-day New York State, she contracted smallpox in an epidemic when she was just a four-year-old child, left orphan since her entire family died during the outbreak. In addition to the psychological scars, she was left with physical scars - a source of humiliation in her youth. She was raised by her uncle, the chief of a Mohawk clan.

At age 19, Kateri Tekakwitha converted to Catholicism, taking a vow of chastity and pledging to marry only Jesus Christ. Her decision was very unpopular with her adoptive parents and their neighbors. Some of her neighbors started rumors of sorcery. To avoid persecution, she traveled to a Christian native community south of Montreal.

Kateri was very devout and was known for her steadfast devotion, sekf-mortification and denial did not help her health as she was sickly

Only five years after her conversion to Catholicism, she became ill and passed away at age 24.

St. Kateri Tekakwitha was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on Oct. 21, 2012. She is the patroness of ecology and the environment, people in exile and Native Americans.